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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israel to have Hebrew-only road signs |
| 2009-07-14 |
| The Israeli transport ministry said on Monday that it will get rid of Arabic and English names for cities and towns on road signs, keeping only the Hebrew terms. "Minister Yisrael Katz took this decision that will be progressively applied," a ministry spokeswoman told AFP. Currently Israeli road signs are written in Hebrew, Arabic and English, with the city names in each language. So Jerusalem is identified as Yerushalaim in Hebrew, Jerusalem in English and Al-Quds in Arabic (along with Yerushalaim written in Arabic script). Under the new policy the Holy City will only be identified as Yerushalaim in all three languages. Nazareth (Al-Nasra in Arabic) will be identified as Natzrat and Jaffa (Jaffa in Arabic) will only be written as Yafo. Katz told the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot that the move was a response to the Palestinian refusal to use Hebrew names for some Israeli towns. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 Under the new policy the Holy City will only be identified as Yerushalaim in all three languages. The names will be written in all three languages, but in Arabic and English will be a transliteration of what the place is called in Hebrew. Thus Israel visibly removes the Arab claim to places. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-07-14 13:13 |
| #3 There are tourists and new olim. Plus Hebrew writing is, essentially, consonant only. So, sometimes, you've to see a new word (especially names of non-Hebrew origin---common as street names) in English before you can figure pronunciation. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-07-14 11:55 |
| #2 Grom, I've never been. How prevalent is Hebrew usage in Israel? I had been under the impression that it was fairly universal, and that Hebrew had taken more than, say, Gaelic in the Republic of Ireland had. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-07-14 10:26 |
| #1 Lots of visitors and Israelis need English signs. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-07-14 06:53 |