Israel-Palestinian conflict writ large on road signs

[Vendor]

The increasingly heated dispute over place names in Israel underlies a much greater political struggle, the BBC's Yolande Knell explains from Jerusalem.

"Where are you going?" asked the friendly, but slightly over-familiar, Jewish-Israeli boy sitting next to me on the plane from London.

"I work in Jerusalem," I replied.

His smile instantly turned to a scowl. "It's not Jerusalem," he said. "It's Yerushalayim".


Many road signs are tri-lingual.

"That's in Hebrew, but in English we say Jerusalem," I protested and I was about to add - somewhat mischievously - that my Palestinian friends refer to it as "al-Quds" - the Arabic name for the city.

But at that point, the boy's little sister spilled orange juice over his lap. Our conversation was cut short.

Land may be at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict but every day the struggle to control the historical narrative is played out most tangibly in language.

Place names are the most obvious example.

If some prominent politicians on the Israeli right have their way, then in future the road signs here will only point to "Yerushalayim".

A proposal to have all signs displaying just the transliterations of Hebrew names of cities and towns is being considered by a new ministerial committee.

There is strong opposition among Israel's population of more than one million Arab-Israelis but also from members of the Government Names Committee.

These independent experts have been responsible for selecting place names since the 1950s - not long after the creation of the state of Israel. They argue that changing the system will confuse tourists.

'Powerful symbols'

But others believe that complete Judaisation of the map is long overdue.

At 32, Tzipi Hotovely is the youngest member of the Israeli parliament. A well-qualified lawyer and religious right-winger, she is also seen as the ideological voice and rising star of the prime minister's Likud party.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14515035


Note: 17 August 2011 Last updated at 00:30 GMT

[Vendor]

Talk about "working" for there to be unrest in a constantly conflictual area ... a sign

[MH]

Yes its Yerushalayim every kid knows that......in Israel.
So whats the big deal BBC unless author of this article and his friends would like to see Israel renamed to Palestine.
Which of course naturally will cause all of us live happily ever after.
Brilliant bit about the right wing nationalism-very educational and informative.

[Tribesman]

Yes its Yerushalayim every kid knows that......in Israel.

No, because if they want to call Jerusalem that then they couldn't be in Isreal as they wouldn't call it that

[Penguin]

A change of the signs would be madness!

As "Yerushalayim" is significant longer than "Jerusalem", it would cost Israel trillions in extra ink and paint costs!
And imagine all the t-shirt vendors in the old town, they all had to destroy their Jerusalem shirts...

On the other hand, how can one be against this proposal when it comes from a hot gal like her:


Only her teeth creep me out a little, but she would be perfect to have political arguments and makeup sex afterwards...

If the place names are the biggest problem between Jews and Arabs, then they have no real ones left and can happily smoke a big spliff together.

And the episode about the boy in the plane is odd: it would be the same when the author would fly to Munich with an English-speaking child; the kid would probably say: "No, it's München!" - hardly nationalism, just a correction by a child. Well given, the Bavarians are weird, but anyway, no big deal.

[Vendor]

She is not for you, and as you say yourself, she "need" undergo a make-up,

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by Vendor

She is not for you, and as you say yourself, she "need" undergo a make-up,

No mate, I meant makeup-sex , the one you have after you quarreled for hours - very intense when all the heat of the argument goes into it

[MH]

Originally Posted by Vendor

She is not for you, and as you say yourself, she "need" undergo a make-up,

Religious women always carry "the morning look".
May save you from WTF situations.

[Vendor]

Such a situation is avoided with ease,

[August]

First it was "Bejing" from "Peking", then "Ho Chi Minh City" from "Saigon" (now there's an improvement) and now this?

[Vendor]

One is seldom surprised,

[MH]

Originally Posted by Penguin

A change of the signs would be madness!

As "Yerushalayim" is significant longer than "Jerusalem", it would cost Israel trillions in extra ink and paint costs!
And imagine all the t-shirt vendors in the old town, they all had to destroy their Jerusalem shirts...
.

Good point but Arabs in old city know how to make good business.
Just choose lol

The contradictions....

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by MH

Religious women always carry "the morning look".
May save you from WTF situations.

So I guess there are no Gothic religious women?

Originally Posted by August

First it was "Bejing" from "Peking", then "Ho Chi Minh City" from "Saigon" (now there's an improvement) and now this?

, interesting, I learned "Beijing" in school, didn't know it changed from "Peking", must have happened before I started to learn English. It also changed here during the last 15 years, but Germans are obsessed to pronounce names in the native tongue.

[Vendor]

That's right 'forked tongues'

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by MH

Good point but Arabs in old city know how to make good business.
Just choose lol

The contradictions....

I take one with "Free Palestine" on the front and Israeli Police on the back, no, wait, I take the IDF shirt and a kufiya - that would look good .....wait.... I own the last two things