Comments on: Is Arabic truly an official language in Israel?

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 03:29:30 +0000

Deut. 10:19
And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.
When 20+ percent of the population speaks Arabic, surely the God of Moses should expect kind consideration of “the other” in His land.

Shalom.

By: Mikhael

Mikhael — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:26:58 +0000

@Ali,

Maybe Hebrew was never a widely spoken language in Arab countries, but various Arab countries also have linguistic minorities. I believe that Kurdish is now official in post-Saddam Iraq alongside Arabic (and the Kurdish regions are de facto independent anyway), but I am not so sure about the status of Turkmen, Assyrian, Aramaic, etc.

Syria, I’m pretty sure, never gave any official status to the Kurdish, Aramaic or Turkish dialects that are still spoken there.
I’m pretty sure that in North Africa, where Berber/Amazigh dialects are still widely spoken, only Algeria grants it any sort of legal status, although many North African countries still grant French official status.

NB: I think Arabic should remain an official language in Israel and should be more widely and intensively taught amongst Israel’s Jewish population whether there are good relations between Israel’s Arab neighbors and the Jewish and Arabic-speaking populations in Israel or or not. It’s foolish to discourage the teaching and use of Arabic.

By: Ali

Ali — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:41:32 +0000

Hebrew was never a spoken language in the Arab countries even when their Jewish populations were larger.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:49:08 +0000

Is Hebrew an official language in any Arab country?

Why not?

And what happened to all the Jewish populations of Arab countries?

By: Sinjim

Sinjim — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:41:25 +0000

@Ami: Oh of course. My point though was that often, signs that did have English translations had nothing more than Nothing more than the Hebrew words in Arabic letters, as if translation were impossible — not to mention the signs that had no Arabic at all (like on the highway along the coast).
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Maybe I’m wrong, but rather than being about disrespect, it seems to me that the use of English is strategic, aimed at tourists and visitors, most of whom are likely to be (American) Jews or Christians interested in seeing and experiencing the authentic culture of the “holy land.”
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I think that’s why you won’t hear anyone say that English announcements on Israeli trains are just too noisy.

By: Moriel Rothman

Moriel Rothman — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:53:22 +0000

The best is the Sheikh Jarrah stop on the light rail here in J’lem.

(shim3on hassadiq)

By: Ami Kaufman

Ami Kaufman — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:25:27 +0000

@sinjim – while I agree with you that Arabic is treated with disrespect intentionally, you are a bit wrong about the English. Signs in English are usually transliterations as well, not translations.
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Probably the most notorious of them all is the huge sign on the Ayalon freeway for the “RAKEVET”.

By: Sinjim

Sinjim — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:38:32 +0000

When I visited Palestine, I had a chance to go to Haifa and a see the Baha’i Temple. I don’t remember the name of the street right in front of the gate (French Junction or something like that), but its name was given in Hebrew first, English second, and Arabic third. The English name was a translation, while the Arabic was nothing more than the transliteration of the Hebrew name.
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I noticed this throughout my visit. Time and again, the Arabic name of places and streets was only the Hebrew words written in Arabic letters.
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The Arabic language, and by definition its speakers, is treated with disrespect by the state as a matter of course. This is one of those aspects of discrimination and oppression that mostly only Palestinians are aware of, while those with privilege carry on blissfully unaware of it.

By: sh

sh — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:54:02 +0000

How come the CEO of Israel Railways has the right to choose to ignore? Arabic is and should stay one of Israel’s official languages. As such the public transport announcements both written and oral should automatically have been made in Arabic too.
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If ever that elusive peace should come to pass Israelis will be bemoaning the fact that they can’t read the signposts in neighboring countries. It’s nuts to choose to live in a geographical area the language of which you scorn.