Israel at War ... Over Road Signs?

[Scurrilous]

Israeli Transport Ministry Accused of Plan to Ethnically Cleanse Road Signs

<snip>

"Yisrael Katz, Israel's new right-wing minister of transport, has revealed a plan to change the names of more than 2,500 road signs, doing away with Arabic place names and replacing them with simple translations of Hebrew names. He says the system needs to be simplified and made clearer for the country's drivers.

But this is Israel, home to both Jews and Arabs, so the plan has sparked a firestorm of protest and accusations of discrimination against the country's Arab minority.

"The lack of uniform spelling on signs has been a problem for those speaking foreign languages, citizens and tourists alike," transport ministry spokesman Yeshaayahu Ronen said.

But angry Arab Israelis accuse the ministry of trying to erase their cultural identity. Many places inside Israel have two different names, one Arabic, the other Hebrew. Perhaps the most famous example is Jerusalem itself: it is al-Quds to Arabs, Yerushalayim to Jews.

And, then, there's historic Nazareth. Arabs call it al-Nasra, Jews Natsrat. Up until now, both names have appeared on road signs, a recognition of Israel's ethnic diversity. Under the plan, only the Hebrew names would appear, in both languages -- the Arabic version would be a simple transliteration of the Hebrew name.

Arab members of the Israeli parliament were quick to take offence. Ahmad Tibi from the United Arab List said, "Minister Katz is mistaken if he thinks that changing a few words can erase the existence of the Arab people or their connection to Israel."

more




Graffiti War Erupts Over Israel’s Road Signs

http://forward.com/articles/109097/

It’s a Public Service,’ Says an Activist With Arabic Stickers

<snip>

"On a recent night in this ethnically divided city, an Israeli and two American Jews patrolled the streets, armed with a ladder, adhesive spray and a pile of handwritten placards. Every few minutes, they hopped out of the car, slapped a sticker onto a road sign and snapped a picture.

Their operation, which has taken place four times since May, is aimed at countering ultra-nationalist vandals who had defaced the Arabic lettering on Jerusalem’s street signs. Over that vandalism, the new vigilantes, with a more pluralist vision of Israel, have put up stickers with large, flowing Arabic calligraphy spelling out the street’s name.

“It’s a public service,” said Romy Achituv, the Israeli behind the wheel, before speeding off to the next sign on the checklist.

So far, the “maintenance group,” as they call themselves, has gone out four times at night and attended to around 50 signs. The $100 or so that this has cost has come from their own pockets.

It’s the latest move in an ongoing graffiti war that has transformed Israel’s road signs into ideological battlefields. The conflict began in 1999, when an Israeli court ordered Arab-Jewish cities to include Arabic translations on street signs in addition to Hebrew and English. In the years since that order, anti-Arabic vandalism has appeared in mixed cities, such as Akko, as well as on highway signs throughout the country — but it is said to be most prominent in Jerusalem. There, residents have grown used to the Arabic translations of "Jehosaphat Street" or "Slow" being blotted out by black spray paint or covered up in ultra-nationalist bumper stickers.

“In Jerusalem, you have a lot of nationalists who do not accept the very existence of Arabs,” said Sammy Smooha, an Israeli political sociologist at the University of Haifa. “Arabic signs give them the feeling of binationalism, that the Jews have no exclusive monopoly on the town.” Achituv and others on his team contend that Israeli authorities have been uninterested in dealing with the defacing of the Arabic signs."