Republican U.S. senator introduces bill to ban federal use of 'West Bank'

A key Republican ally of President-elect Donald Trump introduced legislation Thursday in the Senate that, if enacted, would prohibit the federal government from using "West Bank" to refer to the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory.

Sen. Tom Cotton's legislation would mandate the federal government refer to the territory as "Judea and Samaria," Israel's preferred name.

Cotton, who is the number three Republican in the Senate after reportedly being considered by Trump for CIA director or Pentagon chief, said the change "would require the use of historically accurate terminology."

"The Jewish people's legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria goes back thousands of years. The U.S. should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel," Cotton said in a statement.

Representative Claudia Tenney introduced the act in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in March, but it stalled after being referred to the Foreign Affairs Committee.

She said in a statement distributed by Cotton's office that the bill "reaffirms Israel's rightful claim to its territory."

"I remain committed to defending the integrity of the Jewish state and fully supporting Israel's sovereignty over Judea and Samaria," said Tenney.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967 and has since proceeded to erect thousands of Jewish-only settlements in the territories, considered illegal under international law, while evicting Palestinians from their homes.

The International Court of Justice issued a landmark opinion in July that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "illegal," and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.