What's In A Name?

I know I still have several posts from Spain, Morocco, and Losaunne and Noelle's visit, but I was talking to my sister yesterday about the name of the place where I live/study and I thought it would be a helpful blog post.

This Sunday in the Bethlehem branch/group (more about that to come later), a letter from the First Presidency was read in sacrament meeting stating that the name of our district had been changed from the "Israel District" to the "Jerusalem District." The day before, I was visiting teaching at another West Bank member's house when we heard the announcement (via a phone call from another West Bank member).  When we heard the announcement, we were shocked and delighted. But why? Name changes don't usually elicit such rejoicing, especially since it is just the name of a district of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

But like everything else in Israel/Palestine, even names are complicated. Take the name of the place in which I live, for example. Where do you think I live? My mom recently made clocks for the different time zones of her children and put the names of the places we live on them: Utah, Texas, and Israel. I didn't tell her this (but I guess she'll know now!!) because she had already made the clock, but I don't actually live in Israeli territory, at least not according to the US government (as well as other countries and organizations). (It's ok, Mom, I still live in the same time zone :)

For those who don't know, Israel/Palestine is split politically, culturally, and ethnically. While many countries around the world have a large minority population that leads to political divisions, Israel/Palestine is different because in 1949 plans were drawn up that effectively split the country/territory (which had been under British Mandate before), giving the Israeli government control outside of the green line, the Jordanian government control inside of the green line/West Bank (it's called the West Bank because it's on the west bank of Jordan), and the Egyptian government/military somewhat in control of the Gaza strip (working with a Palestinian government there).

During the Six Day War in 1967, Israel took back the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank and East Jerusalem (Jerusalem had been divided in half by the green line), and the Golan Heights. Several UN resolutions, the Oslo Accords, and numerous political and diplomatic decisions later (if you want a brief overview, I suggest you read the Wikipedia article about the West Bank), the West Bank is now divided into three sections: Area C (under complete Israeli control and administration, meaning that if the Palestinians who live in Area C want to build onto their house or dig a well or anything they have to get permission from the Israeli army; Israelis are also allowed to travel freely in Area C), Area B (Israeli military control and Palestinian civil control), and Area A (full Palestinian Authority control; Israelis are forbidden to enter). I live in Area A, but just a 5 minute drive from my home to the east Area A ends and Area C begins.

So what is the legal status of the West Bank and East Jerusalem? Since 1979, the UN, the US, the EU, and other international organizations have referred to the West Bank and East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. Israel considers Jerusalem its capital, but most embassies (including the US) are located in Tel Aviv, the internationally recognized capital of Israel (because of the disputed status of Jerusalem). Jerusalem is its own entity, according to the US government, and is written "Jerusalem" on their documents and not "Jerusalem, Israel." 

So when I say where I study, I say Jerusalem. Where do I live? The West Bank, Beit Sahour, a little town near Bethlehem. I talk about the West Bank, Palestinian territory, Israeli territory, Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, etc, but the area is complicated enough to make it impossible to assign just one name to it.

So what does all of this have to do with the Bethlehem church group and renaming the district? Well, there are about 28 people from the Bethlehem "group" (not quite a branch, but not part of any other branch--this includes children and family members who are not baptized but who attend church with their baptized spouse) that live in the West Bank. There are branches of the church in Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, and Tiberias. These four areas constitute the district. And the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles cares enough about us to recognize the fact that not all of the members and not all of the branches are in Israeli territory. And the most neutral term that can describe us is the "Jerusalem District": even though it's not just Jerusalem members who are in the district, and not even all of the members of the district can go to Jerusalem, the status of the city is complicated and divided, just like everything else here, and therefore is pretty representative of the situation here.

So what's in a name? Apparently, despite what Shakespeare thinks, a name means quite a bit, at least here in the Middle East. And I hope you enjoyed this little history lesson.