Commentaire sur La Genèse 50:11

וירא יושב הארץ הכנעני, as if the Torah had written וירא הכנעני יושב הארץ, “the Canaanite inhabitants of the land realised, etc.”

Also ein Grenzort des kanaanitischen Landes verewigte mit seinem Namen die Anerkennung, die ein jüdischer Stammvater in der Fremde gefunden hatte.

וירא יושב הארץ הכנעני, “the inhabitants of the land of the Canaanite tribes “saw;” the reference is to the Emorites under Sichon and to the ones under Og. They also called themselves “Canaanites.” Rashi explains thus in the Book of Numbers and in the Book of Judges and on several occasions.

אשר בעבר הירדן, “whose habitat is on the East Bank of the river Jordan.” These Kings had seen the mourning being observed at the threshing ground of Atad (verse 10) which was located on Canaanite land on the East Bank. Just as the inhabitants of the land of Canaan proper called that region “East Bank,” in the days of Joshua who settled the Israelites on the West Bank, so the people residing on the East Bank called the area across the Jordan “West Bank. We have proof of this in Numbers 32,19: כי לא ננחל אתם מעבר לירדן והלאה כי באה נחלתנו מעבר לירדן מזרחה, “for we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastwards.”