Israel's street signs have become an ideological battleground where Arab and Jewish activists are fighting over signs written in Arabic.
“In Jerusalem, you have a lot of nationalists who do not accept the very existence of Arabs,” Sammy Smooha, an Israeli political sociologist at the University of Haifa, told The Forward. “Arabic signs give them the feeling of binationalism, that the Jews have no exclusive monopoly on the town.”
Meanwhile, Omar Karmi of The National reports on a unique feminist art installation in Ramallah where a young Palestinian artist has been using art to encourage men to consider how they see and treat women.
The artist, 21-year-old Noor Abed, put a mannequin in a white dress on the sidewalk near Ramallah's central Manara Square - the place where, day-and-night, groups of young guys gather to hang out.
Abed asked guys to write their thoughts on the dress, which became a central part of a performance art piece she created.
Read more here.
I'm sorry to say, but this problem is growing wider and with a twist. It appears the Israeli Ministry of the Interior is getting rid of Arabic city and town names.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=39205
"This government, and certainly this minister, will not allow anyone to turn Jewish Jerusalem to Palestinian Al-Quds," said Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.
It looks like the state will be keeping the Arabic language, but cleansing signs of all 'Palestinian' names and transliterate the Hebrew name into Arabic. Most of the names of these towns, villages and cities go back centuries and are known globally by their ancient names.
The article goes on to say, 'But even if that local population is not particularly Jewish, the signs will be changed as well, according to the newspaper. It noted that for instance the sign for Nazareth, Israel's largest Palestinian city, would be changed to Natsrat in Arabic and English.'
I'm sorry, but if you tell one of my neighbors in North Carolina that Jesus grew up in Natsrat, they'd think you were nuts.
I can also see why the Palestinians believe they are slowly being ethnically cleansed, not only from the Occupied Territories, but from within Israel itself. What would it feel like to be slowly, but surely erased?
Posted by: Edie | July 13, 2009 at 08:29 AM
Edie - thanks for the update. That's the heart of the problem. My sympathy toward the Palestinians has less to do with the issue of a Palestinian state and more to do with the fact that Israel is so intent on its status as a "Jewish State." It's like the rest of the world is moving forward and Israel is turning into pre-civil rights Alabama. It's disgusting and every time you point it out, you get some lame excuse about how the holocaust means that it's ok for Jews to be vile racists. I ask you: Jewish State - Aryan Nation: What's the difference?
Posted by: Samayavajra | July 14, 2009 at 05:17 PM