Use of Arabic

Submitted by Fred Schlomka (Israel), Mar 15, 2007 at 02:21

dhimmi no more said: "I also understand that Jews in Israel use Arabic swear words which I think is just great.".

Actually we use much more than swear words in Arabic. Hebrew was revived less than a hundred years ago as an everyday language. Obviously after more than 2,000 years of exclusive use as the Jewish language of prayer and Torah, it lacked modern words and idioms. This has been rectified through the use of many Arabic (and English) words, or derivatives.

We also have a handful of private integrated schools in Israel where the two languages, Arabic and Hebrew, are taught and used for instruction. In this part of the world it makes sense for Israelis to be bi-lingual. Unfortunately our government mandates separate public schools for Jews and Arabs. The so-called 'separate but equal' policies didn't work in the USA and they don't work here either.

No Muslim I know in Israel expects people to convert to Islam if they choose to learn Arabic. I believe this rather outmoded Islamist thinking will fall by the wayside as the Middle East develops. In the meanwhile we do have to deal with the ramifications of Islamic transition.

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