THE Palestinian Authority has renamed the West Bank and the Strip to disassociate the areas from the countries that originally named them, an official said yesterday.
"From now on we will start saying the District of Gaza instead of the Gaza Strip and the Northern Counties of Palestine instead of the West Bank," said Mr Talal Aukal of the Palestinian Ministry of Information.
"The new names have some political significance as well as administrative importance," he said. "It is linked to sovereignty and statehood."
The West Bank was named by Jordan, which ruled it from 1948. The Gaza Strip was named by Egypt, which began administering the area the same year.
"We have to cancel the previous names because we are linked to our dream of a Palestinian state and not to a reality which we have rejected," said Mr Aukal.
Meanwhile, Israel said it would raise funds for Palestinians in sealed-off Gaza to prevent starvation but it would not move more troops out of the West Bank until the PLO arrested Muslim militant leaders.
Israel sealed off the West Bank and Gaza on February 25th after the start of a series of suicide attacks by Muslim militants in Israel that killed 58 people in over a week.
It has demanded that Mr Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Council President, detain the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad who stood behind the attacks. Mr Arafat has arrested hundreds of militants but Israel says ringleaders are still at large.
Until they are captured we will not pull out of Hebron," a senior Israeli official, quoted the Israeli Prime Minister, Mid Shimon Peres, as telling the cabinet yesterday.
Under an Israel-PLO peace agreement Hebron is the last of seven West Bank Palestinian towns Israel was to leave. It was due to pull out of most of the city by March 28th. Some troops would stay to guard Jewish enclaves in the town.
The cabinet yesterday decided to continue the closure of Palestinian areas but called on the international community to raise money for humanitarian aid.
"The prime minister informed the cabinet that in light of the security situation there is no alternative but to continue the closure and to continue with punitive and deterring measures, including the demolition of homes," an Israeli cabinet statement said.
"With that, steps will be taken in co-operation with international parties in order to prevent a shortage among the residents of the territories and to create places of work within the areas of Judea, Samaria (the biblical names of the West Bank) and the Gaza Strip."
The Tourism Minister, Mr Uzi Baram, said Mr Peres had informed the cabinet that he hoped the international community would raise $100 million.
The Environment Minister, Mr Yossi Sarid, said Israel would contribute to the fund. "We decided we can't stand by when the closure is necessary in terms of security, but at the same time create an unbearable situation of misery which is itself dangerous in the same respect, that is, in terms of security," he told Israel Radio.