What do the names Judea and Samaria refer to?
Judea and Samaria, located west of the Jordan River, with Jerusalem approximately in the center, are historical parts of the Land of Israel. They are currently called the “West Bank”, a name created by Jordan after the War of Independence in 1948 when Arab armies overran Judea and Samaria. Despite the fact that virtually the entire world rejected Jordan’s annexation, and even after Israel drove the occupiers back across the river in the 1967 Six Day War, the phrase “West Bank” has stuck, and is used to the near total exclusion of any other.
The mountains of Judea are first named in the Book of Joshua, in the account of the conquering of Canaan by the Israelites during the creation of the Land of Israel. From that time to the present, more than 3,000 years, the name Judea has been consistently used to describe the territory from Jerusalem south along the Judean mountain ridge line, extending east from the mountains down to the Dead Sea.
The hill country north and west of Jerusalem has been known as Samaria since the days of King Jeroboam, first king of the breakaway ten northern tribes of Israel after the death of King Solomon.
Judea and Samaria have been known by these names for unbroken centuries, and were registered as such on official documents and maps, by international institutions and in authoritative reference books right up to about 1950. When the correct names became a problem for Palestinian Arabs trying to make their newly-minted claim on the land, it somehow became “politically correct” to use “West Bank” or “occupied territories” instead of the historically accurate names Judea and Samaria.
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Photo ? Jack Hazut |
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View of Judean Mountains |
Some examples of reference works using the names Judea and Samaria:
- A map published by the US State Department designating the Middle East’s “Military Situation” on July 18, 1948 calls the “Arab held” area north of Jerusalem “Samaria”
- In A Survey of Palestine prepared by the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry in December 1945 and January 1946 the authors used the titles “Judea” and “Samaria” as a matter of course when referring to what later became the “West Bank”
- In United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 adopted November 29, 1947, the world body referred to Judea and Samaria by those historical names
- Every edition of the Encyclop?dia Britannica, up to the latest (1994) writes extensively concerning the areas politically called the West Bank, and calls them by their historically accurate names: Samaria and Judea. The fact that the “West Bank” is not mentioned once in the 1954 edition of the Encyclop?dia Britannica indicates just how recently this title entered popular usage, and just how quickly, and deeply, it has taken root.
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Baruch ha Shem, Y’shua ha Meshiah!
The ancestral land of Judah (Israel) was renamed Palestine by the Romans after their conquest of the region. Neighboring Arabs quickly seized the opportunity to move into the area claiming it for their own. God gave Israel to the Jews and anyone who goes against God’s will, shall do so at their own peril. As an American Christian, I will support the return of the Jews to their rightful homeland, Israel.
Hey Jerry, that King James Version (the sound of which I prefer to newer translations) has only been around for the last 25% of Christianity, and it only goes back 2,000 years.
i am a Samarian native, and we do not want any Zionist existence in our land
we just want peace
Read Jeremiah 31, and Ezekiel 38:16-33.
This is why Israel became a nation in 1948.
When GOD makes a promise it will come to pass on HIS time table.
1. Stop throwing rockets.
2. Recognize Israel’s right to exist.
3. Negotiate
Christ said i am the way, truth and life know one comes to the father acept through me. So the truth is in the history, the bible, all land belongs to God and he gave any part to whom he chose, so no body should envy Israel.
The Land of Israel? Israel’s Zionist designs includes far more than Samaria and Judea. They want “from the Nile to the Euphrates”, a triangulation from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. Why? Because a deep voice from the sky gave it to them. It’s ours they say, so why haven’t you moved out yet? Nowhere else would the U.S. tolerate a race-based (Jews consider themselves a separate race, a better race), fascist (religion-controlled government using fear of Muslims as their whip) regime like the Zionist Movement in Israel. Why do we tolerate Israel then? Because Israelis control the Federal Reserve Bank? Becasue Israelis control the US media? Because every new Congressperson in the US has to sit down with some nice Jewish guys to explain why Israel’s predicament is so important? Speak to me, Zionist!
The US supports Israel in large part because they are Democratic. One small nation surrounded by nations that are pretty much dictatorships with terrible human rights records. If it wasn’t for Israel, the entire middle east would be stuck in the 7th century, stoning people, hanging them and oppressing women – perhaps with the exception of Jordan (which I don’t know much about). But the rest of the countries are a sad state of affairs with no freedom of the press or liberty of thought and speech. Is that really what you would prefer?
And the jews are descendent from judea not samaria. Judea is a tiny patch between territory of Philistim in the west, edom in south and northern kindgom in north. i.e only 30% of what zionists occupy today have any real connection to Jews. And of course, we have to subtract the Khazar ancestory.
The northern kingdom included 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel. It was destroyed around 720BC by the Assyrians.
Ahmed, what is your connection to Samaria?
It is amazing that the world wants to ignore the truths that have been around forever. I am not opposed to change, but change for sake of ignoring the truths of our historical documents is totally wrong. I only read the King James version of the Bible. Our world is losing its heritage, both good and bad, but we need to know both so we can learn from them.