Can a term decide history, identity, and rights? And what happens when a people gives up the language of its own history and instead adopts the words of its adversaries? Whoever says “West Bank” views Israel through a colonial lens. Whoever says “Judea and Samaria” speaks with the voice of the Bible and confesses to the roots of the people of Israel. The terminology reaches deep into politics, as one episode involving Israel’s new security chief has become a symbol of national self-definition. A word can create reality, and for Israel that also means sovereignty.

In principle, in our reporting we always speak of “the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria.” Occasionally we add a qualifier such as: “… the so-called occupied territories.” We do this only exceptionally and with inner discomfort, but some readers cannot readily locate Judea and Samaria on a map because they know only terms like “West Bank” or “the occupied West Bank” from mainstream media. That the expression “biblical heartland” sounds foreign to many is not surprising: they do not know modern Israeli history...

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