Learning Arabic becomes political act in Israel
All the initiatives and events presented on Arabic language Day in the Knesset cannot hide the fact that the Nationality Law has stripped it from its status as an official language in Israel.
The Knesset marked its seventh annual Arabic Language Day Jan. 25 with special discussions and debates devoted to the topic in the various committees. Participating committees included the Internal Security Committee, Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women, Finance Committee, Education Committee and the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
As part of these events, Knesset members were also introduced to a new initiative by the Knesset’s Director General Gil Segal, who had commissioned the first ever dictionary of basic parliamentary terminology in Arabic. This new parliamentary dictionary includes dozens of rudimentary terms, such as “leader of the opposition,” “Ethics Committee” and “faction,” as well as important parliamentary terms such as “parliamentary query,” “revision,” “filibuster,” and so on. The dictionary also includes important information about the proper spelling and pronunciation of these terms in Arabic.
In a discussion about the initiative, the Knesset’s director general (mudirh a’am al-Knisat in Arabic) explained, “This is an important move, intended to help notify and inform all citizens about the parliamentary activity of their representatives. Language is the most basic, most important medium for communication between people. As such, this initiative is the best way to relay a message about the importance we place on accessibility and familiarity with the Arabic language in general and in the Knesset in particular.”
This initiative by Segal was just one of many to mark the day. Other events included special committee meetings and hearings pertinent to the subject. So, for instance, the Internal Security Committee discussed the use of Arabic in the national campaign against violence and crime, the Finance Committee discussed the presence of Arabic in the economic realm, the Education Committee discussed Arabic-language education in schools and the Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women talked about Arabic-language skills in police interrogation rooms.
