Arabs 'should learn Hebrew'
Arabs 'should learn Hebrew'
The Center for Israeli Studies hosted an event in Amman on improving Hebrew understanding across the Arab world, due to a big drop in student numbers in recent years.
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Speakers at the event, funded by the Israel Institute, in Amman on 22 December [Facebook]
A Jordanian think-tank organised a one-day event on how to increase the number of Arabs who speak Hebrew due to a large decrease in interest among students.
The Center for Israel Studies hosted a number of Arab academics from across the Middle East to the conference, called "The Future of Hebrew Language in the Arab World", on December 22 in Amman.
"We have a problem in terms of the number of students who want to study Hebrew," said Abdullah Swalha, founding member and manager of The Center for Israel Studies.
"In Jordan for instance, the number of people studying Hebrew has dropped from 500 to about 100.
"Additionally, students who study Hebrew are unable to find jobs. We must analyse this problem and come up with a solution."
| Facebook Post |
The think-tank has historically put on events that aim to improve Arab understanding of Israeli culture, due to a perceived imbalance in cultural knowledge.
"We [Arabs] have no idea about Hebrew culture, the language, and way of thinking," one student is reported to have said.
"They [Israelis] know and understand us a lot better than we know and understand them."
One of the slides from the event, seen by The New Arab, is entitled "The necessities of learning Hebrew".
One of the main discussion points at the event was the main motivation for learning the language, which one speaker described as the perceived "language of the enemy".
"(Hebrew) is very important to understand the 'other,'" one speaker is reported to have said.
"As it is only through language that we can understand the culture of the society and its way of thinking, the language can bring our nations closer."
According to the Facebook advert for the event, the workshop discussed "the future of Hebrew language, challenges, risks, and opportunities" and "Hebrew language as a tool for narrowing the gap between the peoples."
"This workshop would be the first of its kind in the Arab world."
The Center for Israeli Studies describes itself on its website as an independent, nonprofit think tank which is "dedicated to the study of Israeli politics, society, economy and military."
