What is Florida’s bill and how it could rewrite the West Bank as Judea and Samaria
A controversial bill sponsored by Florida legislators, the Recognizing Judea and Samaria Act, is an attempt to substitute the internationally accepted name of the territory, West Bank, with the term “Judea and Samaria” in every K-12 public school, state agency, and public college and university. The legislation is indicative of an attempt to transform the way students and the general population get informed about a historically and politically sensitive area as reported by The Guardian.The West Bank, which was occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967 because of its conquest by Israel out of the Jordanian territory, is known by the international community as an occupied Palestinian territory. The bill, by requiring the use of the term Judea and Samaria, a name that the Israeli government likes to use because of its biblical connections, takes another step toward raising one of its many historical and religious interpretations and may marginalize others. The proposal by Florida is the first instance of such a requirement for K-12 education in the US.
What the bill seeks to do
Should it become law, it would lead to the interdiction of the term “West Bank” by the state agencies, such as universities and public colleges, in any official documents. The K-12 state schools would also need to alter the content of instruction and library materials to adapt to the new terminology, which actually transforms the way generations of students get acquainted with the region.
History and external factors
The Israeli government incorporates Judea and Samaria to refer to the kingdoms of antiquity Israel and strengthens its historical and religious claims to the land. Conversely, the West Bank is known throughout the world to be the land inhabited by Israel following the war in 1967, and most of the world agrees that it ought to be an independent Palestinian state. The Florida bill is in line with a trend by some of the US republicans, which began during the Trump administration, and has adopted this terminology. Arkansas passed a similar law in April last year, but congressional proposals have not progressed.
As part of the wider education change
The proposed bill is part of the overall attempt to reform the school curricula and the library content in Florida. In recent years, topics of LGBTQ+ and race-based discussions, social justice movements like Black Lives Matter, climate change, critical race theory, and socialism have been restricted. Advocates believe that the change to Judea and Samaria is one of the moves to fight the perceived revision of Jewish historical claims. Representative Debra Tendrich, a Jewish member of the sponsorship team of HB 31, remarked that the name West Bank was created by the Jordanians to cut off ties of Jewish affiliation to the area as reported by The Guardian.
Critics’ concerns
The opponents of the bill claim that it would bring the risk of erasing the Palestinian narratives and the silencing of other views. Advocacy groups such as Emgage Action and Representative Angie Nixon have cautioned that the law promotes one side of the story at the expense of educators, researchers, and state-run institutions having the ability to tell a balanced story. PEN America raised an alarm that the law may continue to marginalize Palestinian Americans amid anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian rhetoric, which is also reported to be increasing.
Legal developments and perspective
The House bill, HB 31, has passed through the State Affairs Committee and is awaiting debate on the House floor. Its Senate equivalent, SB 1106, is pending a committee hearing. The legislation has chances of progressing as Republicans have a majority in both houses, but its enactment would still be controversial.Broader significanceThe example of the legislative work of Florida shows the intersection of politics, history, and education. The bill will suppress the discussion of certain controversial regions by controlling the way in which schools and state agencies call them, which poses some fundamental questions concerning the narratives that are considered and taught and the role of language in creating people’s comprehension of international disputes.
