Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler: (A Street) By Any Other Name (Israel)
[Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler are Jerusalem-based reporters and documentary filmmakers.]
Intrepid international travelers arriving in Israel may well be getting on their mobiles soon to upbraid their travel agent for sending them to an unknown destination. “Where on earth are we? It reads here: ‘Welcome to NATBAG.’”
Unless they know their languages, even travelers comfortable with geography will have good reason to feel disoriented: “NATBAG” is an acronym for the Hebrew for Namal Te’ufa Ben Gurion, more commonly known as Ben Gurion International Airport.
Israel’s minister of transport, Yisrael Katz, is behind the conundrum — he’s mapping out a new legend for the roadmap of his country.
Proudly, Mr. Katz recently unveiled his plan to get rid of English and Arabic names on all road signs around the country: From now on, Hebrew names only. Currently, major road signs use all three languages: Jerusalem, for example, is Yerushalayim in Hebrew, al-Quds in Arabic and Jerusalem in English.
Henceforth, however, the city is to be identified solely as Yerushalayim. Similarly, read Natzrat for Nazareth (al-Nasra in Arabic) and Yafo for Jaffa (Yafa in Arabic). Caesarea, the biblical site with its famed Roman antiquities, will be only Kesariya.
So what’s in a road sign?
When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it’s history, ideology, nationalism, identity and also the affirmation of whose land it is — at the present time, at least. It’s the reshaping of history through the rewriting of signposts.
Prime Minister Binyamin (not Benjamin, if his minister has his way) Netanyahu has designed his own “signpost” for the roadmap to peace — Arab acceptance of Israel as “The Jewish State.”
There’s a but: Arabic is one of Israel’s official languages, alongside Hebrew. That’s because one out of five Israeli citizens is an Arab.
They justifiably complain that they’re being pushed further “to the back of the bus,” or pushed “off the national road.”
Mr. Katz smugly counters, “All we’re doing is amending the lack of uniform spelling on road signs, which causes much confusion for drivers, Jew and Arab alike.”
But the political motive is ill-concealed. “Some Palestinian maps still refer to Israeli towns and villages by their pre-1948 [pre-Israel] names: Beisan instead of our Beit-Shean. They want to turn the clock back,” says Mr. Katz. “Not on my signs! We won’t allow anyone to turn Yerushalayim into al-Quds.”...
Read entire article at NYT
Intrepid international travelers arriving in Israel may well be getting on their mobiles soon to upbraid their travel agent for sending them to an unknown destination. “Where on earth are we? It reads here: ‘Welcome to NATBAG.’”
Unless they know their languages, even travelers comfortable with geography will have good reason to feel disoriented: “NATBAG” is an acronym for the Hebrew for Namal Te’ufa Ben Gurion, more commonly known as Ben Gurion International Airport.
Israel’s minister of transport, Yisrael Katz, is behind the conundrum — he’s mapping out a new legend for the roadmap of his country.
Proudly, Mr. Katz recently unveiled his plan to get rid of English and Arabic names on all road signs around the country: From now on, Hebrew names only. Currently, major road signs use all three languages: Jerusalem, for example, is Yerushalayim in Hebrew, al-Quds in Arabic and Jerusalem in English.
Henceforth, however, the city is to be identified solely as Yerushalayim. Similarly, read Natzrat for Nazareth (al-Nasra in Arabic) and Yafo for Jaffa (Yafa in Arabic). Caesarea, the biblical site with its famed Roman antiquities, will be only Kesariya.
So what’s in a road sign?
When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it’s history, ideology, nationalism, identity and also the affirmation of whose land it is — at the present time, at least. It’s the reshaping of history through the rewriting of signposts.
Prime Minister Binyamin (not Benjamin, if his minister has his way) Netanyahu has designed his own “signpost” for the roadmap to peace — Arab acceptance of Israel as “The Jewish State.”
There’s a but: Arabic is one of Israel’s official languages, alongside Hebrew. That’s because one out of five Israeli citizens is an Arab.
They justifiably complain that they’re being pushed further “to the back of the bus,” or pushed “off the national road.”
Mr. Katz smugly counters, “All we’re doing is amending the lack of uniform spelling on road signs, which causes much confusion for drivers, Jew and Arab alike.”
But the political motive is ill-concealed. “Some Palestinian maps still refer to Israeli towns and villages by their pre-1948 [pre-Israel] names: Beisan instead of our Beit-Shean. They want to turn the clock back,” says Mr. Katz. “Not on my signs! We won’t allow anyone to turn Yerushalayim into al-Quds.”...