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Rooting Security in Arabic Soil

When Zionism Met Arabic

  • Chapter
The Creation of Israeli Arabic

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Languages at War ((PASLW))

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Abstract

The connection between Arabic studies and security considerations in Israel is an open secret widely shared by the majority of Israelis. Nevertheless, there is a lack of academic research on this specific topic, a fact that I find rather telling. An examination of the motivations of pupils for studying Arabic aptly demonstrates the explicit and straightforward nature of this open secret.2 For example, research conducted in 1988 was done to assess the attitudes of Jewish-Israeli high school pupils towards Arabic studies. Specifically, the research inquired as to why pupils chose both to study Arabic and also elected to take the final exam on the subject on completion of high school. It found that 65 per cent of those who chose to study Arabic had a ‘desire to serve in the army in a position that demands knowledge of Arabic’.3

Even a fist was once an open palm with fingers.

Yehuda Amichai, poet1

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Notes

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  1. University of Cambridge, UK

    Yonatan Mendel

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Mendel, Y. (2014). Rooting Security in Arabic Soil. In: The Creation of Israeli Arabic. Palgrave Studies in Languages at War. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137337375_2

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