Сероухова Диана Владимировна. Языковые конфликты: статус арабского языка в Израиле.

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Языковые конфликты: статус арабского языка в Израиле.

Сероухова Диана Владимировна, студентка 3 курса, Мировая экономика, кафедра международных отношений и мировой экономики, Казахский Национальный университет имени аль-Фараби, Алматы, Казахстан, Данный адрес e-mail защищен от спам-ботов, Вам необходимо включить Javascript для его просмотра.

Аннотация: 

В данной статье рассмотрены основные арены языковых конфликтов, статус арабского языка в Израиле и возможные последствия отмены арабского языка в качестве официального. Автор освещает перспективы арабского языка, а также сложившуюся политическую ситуацию в Израиле. 

Ключевые слова: языковые конфликты, арабский, Израиль, языковая политика, Нетаньяху, еврейский характер.

Language conflicts: status of Arabic in Israel.

Seroukhova Diana Vladimirovna, student of 3d course, World economics, Department of international relations and world economics, Al-Farabi Kazakh National university, Almaty, Kazakhstan, Данный адрес e-mail защищен от спам-ботов, Вам необходимо включить Javascript для его просмотра.

Аннотация (на английском языке):

This article describes the main arenas of language conflicts, the status of the Arabic language in Israel, and the possible consequences of withdrawal the Arabic language as an official. The author highlights the prospects of the Arabic language, as well as the current political situation in Israel.

Keywords: language conflicts, Arabic, Israel, language policy, Netanyahu, jewish character.


During the last 3-4 decades in developing countries language conflicts began emerging as an indicator of national development and social changes. It became apparent that such conflicts have far-reaching implications for politics and nation-building, on the one hand, and language planning, on the other.

The main objective of this work is to examine the main arena of language conflicts, the status of the Arabic language in Israel, and to determine the possible consequences of withdrawal the Arabic language as an official cancellation.

The most important arenas of the language conflicts are education and mass communication. As the choice and use of language are related to the socio-economic and political processes, as well as the distribution of the fund of knowledge and power in society, the decision on the functioning of a language in education can define its role, status and development among other languages in society. In multilingual countries mass communication requires the use of multiple languages in order to achieve maximum political penetration. At the same time, multilingualism does not only limit the spread of economic resources, but also hinders the scientific and technological development, while monolingualism strengthens national unity and overcomes certain barriers in communication [1].

An example of a multilingual country is Israel, where the official languages ​​are Hebrew and Arabic. Although Arabic is the second official language in Israel, the real status of Arabic and Hebrew are not equal. Sometimes there required special decision of the Supreme Court to enter an inscription in Arabic on road signs and in the names of streets in cities. But in November 2014 the Israeli government approved a draft law affirming the status of Israel as "the nation-state of the Jewish people." Such an attempt was already made in 2008, but the initiative was rejected.

Fifteen votes of cabinet members to seven approved and put to a vote in the Knesset (parliament) of the draft law on the Jewish character of the State of Israel, in which the Jews are declared the only people who have the right to national self-determination, flag, anthem and other national symbols and the right to immigrate to this country. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the law will be the response to those who "deny the nature of Israel as the homeland of the Jews."

Israeli experts suppose that the law is likely to get the approval of Parliament, and in the future will be the basis for the constitution, which Israel hasn’t got yet. Benjamin Netanyahu argues that the law guarantees equality for all citizens. However, the Arabs, a fifth part of 8 million population, do not think so. They argue that this move undermines the rights of the Arab minority, the principles of democracy and may increase tension with the Palestinians.

According to one version of the document, which was discussed by the Knesset, the Arabic language will be deprived the state status. Instead, the law for the Arabic, obviously, it will get a "special status". But the official state language will be Hebrew.

The draft law caused an angry reaction among the Arabs. "The Israeli authorities have proven that "Jewish democracy" is a fiction" - said member of Knesset Ahmad Tibi. According to London's The Times, in practice before the Arabs were discriminated against. Now, finally they will be turned into second-class citizens. Not only Arabs, but many Jewish public figures are alarmed by the government's actions. They say that the law of the nation-state of the Jews could "become a stain on Israel's reputation in the eyes of the free world" [2].

Then, on December 8, 2014 deputies of the Israeli Knesset voted to dissolve the representative body after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the resignation of two ministers. During the voting, 93 people were in favor of early elections.

Elections to the Parliament of the 20th convocation were held on 17 March 2015. Recall, Netanyahu deprived ministerial portfolios party leaders "Yesh Atid" and "A-Tnua" - Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Minister of Finance Yair Lapid. At the same time he announced his intention to dissolve the Knesset.

The reason of conflict became sharp disagreements on the bill "The Jewish character of the state of Israel". This document, which caused debates in the Knesset, recognizes the "Jewish character" as one of the basic principles of the country's existence. According to the draft law, Jewish law would be considered the basis of law, and the Arabic language will be deprived the state status. Earlier, Netanyahu said that the adoption such law would be a reprisal for the recent terrorist attack in the synagogue in Jerusalem. Despite the fact that some of the representatives opposed, Netanyahu said that the bill "must pass", regardless of the desires of political opponents. The result of the election was the victory of the party "Likud" headed by Netanyahu and giving them 30 seats of 120. In general, the Knesset of the 20th convocation held 10 parties and lists [3].

Netanyahu's victory suggests that the status of the Arabic language in Israel will be reformed, and most likely it will cease to be official. This conflict is a consequence of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which has lasted for more than a century, and the policy of Netanyahu, who is committed to the recognition of the Palestinians of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people. Arabs constitute 20% of Israel's population, and the reforms proposed by Netanyahu do not regulate the Arab-Israeli conflict and aggravate it even more. What effect will be after cancellation of the official state of Arabic language, one can only assume, and may be conflict between Israel and Palestine will take a new turn.

References:

  1. http://amikhalev.ru/?page_id=78 - Blog of Mikhalev professor, article "Types of linguistic conflicts."
  2. http://mirnov.ru/rubriki-novostey/politika/tel-aviv-reshil-obostrit-otnoshenija-s-arabskim-mirom.html - Portal "World News", article "Tel Aviv decided to aggravate relations with the Arab world."
  3. http://www.newsru.com/world/08dec2014/israel.html - Portal «NEWSru.com», the article "The Israeli parliament voted to dissolve the Knesset and early elections."
  4. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%AF%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%98%D0%B7%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8F - The free encyclopedia Wikipedia, article "Languages of Israel."

Научный руководитель: Бимагамбетова Жибек Тобулбаевна, доцент, к.ф.н., преподаватель кафедры Дипломатического перевода факультета Международных отношений Казахского Национального университета имени аль-Фараби