Critics say Florida bill erasing ‘West Bank’ from state records fuels anti-Palestinian bias
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Republican State Representative Chase Tramont has filed a bill to prevent the use of the name ‘West Bank’ in state materials.
One Arabic language expert says the attempt to erase language may spark deeper discussions on the history of terms used to describe the Middle East.
The bill says: “A state agency may not use the term ‘West Bank’ to refer to Judea and Samaria in an official government material or use moneys to create an official government material that refers to Judea and Samaria as ‘West Bank.”
The proposal would require the land south of Jerusalem to be considered “Judea” in state documents, while areas north of Jerusalem would be considered as “Samaria.”
Dr. Hatem Bazian is a lecturer in the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley.
He specializes in Arabic language and culture.
“The whole effort [is] to try to use biblical terminology and to use language to erase the indigenous population, that’s not unique,” Bazian told WMNF.
On WMNF’s True Talk, Bazain said it’s an attempt to erase the history of Palestinians but it may spark a conversation on the history of certain terms.
“That again is one of those efforts to try to reconstitute Israel in a Zionist narrative in alliance with the Evangelicals,” Bazian said.
The Muslim advocacy group CAIR said that a similar bill introduced in Arkansas has infiltrated anti-Palestinian racism into US laws.
The Florida Legislative Session starts in January.
The post Critics say Florida bill erasing ‘West Bank’ from state records fuels anti-Palestinian bias appeared first on WMNF 88.5 FM.
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