Who's afraid of Arabic?

Security personnel at the airport have adopted the "shibolet" tactic: Passengers who pronounce Paris as "Baris" are forced to undergo excruciating security checks. Both in times of the Bible and in contemporary times, language has served to mark an identity and to spark hatred among neighbors. It does not ignite campfires, but a cancerous conflict may become heated over the hegemony of a linguistic struggle.

Were it not for the conflict between Jews and Arabs, it is highly likely that Israel's Arab citizens would have spoken Arabic in their homes and Hebrew outside of their homes without the duplicity of the languages stirring emotions. But because of an ancient and abandoned feud between the parties the linguistic dispute simmered and has now erupted.

The Arab population is seeking to strengthen the status of its language, and this demand is frightening the Jewish majority because it is bound to a series of demands that threaten Israel's identity as a Jewish State.

This dispute will not disappear even if we block our ears, and we would do well to discuss it by examining the experience of others. The two situations, linguistic calm and linguistic flames, both have several examples. For example, the majority of Paraguay's residents speak the native tongue of Guarani, whereas the written and official language is Spanish, (the tongue of the subjugators) which is also spoken by the majority of residents. Both languages exist in harmony.

Millions of Indians share their language with English, which is practically their mother tongue, and one of the many local dialects. Switzerland is a united state despite 70% of its residents speaking German and the rest French, Italian and another minor language called Romansh.

Israel's unique situation

On the other hand, Yugoslavia was divided by blood and fire despite the Serbian and Croatian tongues being twin languages, where only the written letters distinguish between them (Serbian is written in Cyrillic letters whereas Croatian is written in Latin letters.)

The tyrant Franco banned the Catalonian tongue and upon his death the residents of this region achieved far-reaching autonomy and proceeded to enforce their tongue, which half of the population now uses. The Catalonians did this forcefully, but to their credit it can be said that they catered to the needs of a tiny majority: Some 10,000 Gascon residents live in north Catalonia and are supported in preserving their linguistic uniqueness.

A surprising example of the complex relations between language and politics was demonstrated two weeks ago at the Italian parliament, which determined that the official language is Italian. Ostensibly, this decision resembles officially approving the rising of the sun in the East, yet a fifth of the parliament's members opposed it, which shows that it wasn't so strange.

Italy was freed from its occupiers and was united 137 years ago. Since a common language is the cement that transforms communities into nations, the Italians tried to enforce a single language on their country - the tongue of the Tuscany region. The effort was not completed and to date millions of Italians use several languages that are not Italian, as well as various types of slang.

A unique situation prevails here in Israel: Who other than the Jews in Israel would better understand the will of Arab residents to defend themselves against the blurring of their identity by atrophy of their language? It was Zionism after all that coined the term calling for standard spoken and written language to help define the nation. And perhaps because of the Jews' successful experience, they now fear that strengthening the Arab language would also embolden the Arabs' nationalistic sentiments.

I propose thinking to the contrary: Generosity towards the Arab language would strengthen the Israeli-Arab affiliation to the country.