Comments on: العربية أم العبرية . . . ما هو الفرق؟

By: Mo-ha-med

Mo-ha-med — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:01:59 +0000

That's been going on for a while — I had a photo of a sign that said
'givat hatsarfatit'
جيفعات هتسرفتيت
גבעת הצרפתית
That i took a year ago in Jerusalem… And you're supposed to guess that this means 'French Hill'. Which is not, of course, a biblical name of sorts… Proof that this isn't about 'restoring original names' or other such nonsensical excuse – it's simply to erase the Arab identity of the country and, by the same occasion, make life just a tad more miserable for Arabs.

And know that in many other cities in Israel, street signs often drop the Arabic altogether. It's just Hebrew and English.

By: Los

Los — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:04:25 +0000

They want to get rid of the signs that have the 3 different languages in order to standardize (Hebraise) them. In other words, all signs that bear the three different spellings of the same exact place will be replaced by signs where the place names all match. The Hebrew will remain untouched, but both the Arabic and the English will match the Hebrew.

Examples:
1) Jerusalem
ירושלים
يورشاليم
Yurushalayim

2) Jaffa
יפו
يافو
Yafo

3)Acre
יפו
اكو
Ako

So the Arabic and the English will match the Hebrew. Safed will no longer be writen صفد in Arabic and Nazareth will no longer be seen as الناصرة. But to Palestinians and Arabs, all these places will always be called by their Arab names.

Likud is preparing the next generation of Israelis . . . can you tell?

By: Los

Los — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:23:35 +0000

Beauty!

Thanks BCell

By: BCell

BCell — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:12:15 +0000

"أيها المارون
بين الكلمات العابرة
إجمعوا أسمائكم و انصرفوا"

Palestinian Poet Mahmoud Darwish put it best:

"Oh passers among passing words…
Gather your names and go away"

By: Los

Los — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:53:03 +0000

Like one Arab member of the Knesset said, many of the cities and villages were and will always be Arab. Those places will still be known as know from their Arabic names as Kufr this or Tel that. I mean, people still have the papers to their properties in many cities and they read with the Arab pre-1948 names.

The Israelis can change the name all they want . . . in the end, Jerusalem will always be Al-Quds!

By: Shafiq

Shafiq — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:43:11 +0000

I don’t understand what’s happening. Are they getting rid of the Arabic and English completely, or are they Hebrew-ifying the names so Jerusalem is no longer Jerusalem or Al-Quds?

By: Aisha

Aisha — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:13:31 +0000

Me too, I thought it said Arabic or Arabic! Confusing :S

ps. even if every visible trace of Palestine is erased, there's still the intangible love and yearning that its people have for it in their hearts. It might not be worth much to politicians but I think it's what really counts

By: Lena Dirbashi

Lena Dirbashi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:08:51 +0000

Bab el Khalil for Yaffa Gate??

By: Hanitizer

Hanitizer — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:53:41 +0000

Los, ya Los…good post man! Keep'em coming ya kibeer!

By: Arayus

Arayus — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:12:35 +0000

When seeing this title in my inbox, I thought it said "Arabic or Arabic whats the difference" =P

Amazing how similar the two words are.