Miradi ya Kizayuni baada ya mwaka 1948 ililenga zaidi katika kuifanya jiografia na majina ya maeneo ya Palestina kuwa ya Kiebrania na ya Kiyahudi, kupitia desturi ya kubadilisha majina ya maeneo, sehemu na matukio. Mradi wa Kuiebraisha ulitumia ubadilishaji wa majina kuunda maeneo mapya na utambulisho mpya wa kijiografia unaohusiana na maeneo yanayodaiwa kuwa ya Biblia. Majina mapya ya Kiebrania yalibeba msukumo wa kiitikadi na sifa za kisiasa ambazo zingeweza kutumiwa kwa makusudi na mradi wa kitawala wa Kizayuni. Mradi rasmi ulianza kwa kuteuliwa kwa Kamati ya Serikali ya Majina (Va'adat Hashemot Hamimshaltit).

Post-1948 Zionist projects concentrated on the Hebraicisation/Judaisation of Palestinian geography and toponymy through the practice of renaming sites, places and events. The Hebraicisation project deployed renaming to construct new places and new geographic identities related to supposed biblical places. The ‘new Hebrew’ names embodied an ideological drive and political attributes that could be consciously mobilised by the Zionist hegemonic project. The official project began with the appointment of the Governmental Names Committee (Va’adat Hashemot Hamimshaltit)

...kwa Waziri Mkuu Ben-Gurion mnamo Julai 1949. Ben-Gurion alikuwa ametembelea Naqab/Negev mwezi Juni na alishangazwa na ukweli kwamba hakukuwa na majina ya Kiebrania kwa maeneo ya kijiografia katika eneo hilo. Ingizo la tarehe 11 Juni 1949 katika Shajara yake ya Vita linasomeka: ‘Eilat ... tulipita katika nafasi wazi za Arava ... kutoka ‘Ein Husb ... hadi ‘Ein Wahba ... Lazima tuyapatie maeneo haya majina ya Kiebrania – majina ya kale, ikiwa yapo, na kama hayapo, mapya!’ (Ben-Gurion 1982, Juzuu ya 3: 989).

by Prime Minister Ben-Gurion in July 1949. Ben-Gurion had visited the Naqab/Negev in June and had been struck by the fact that no Hebrew names existed for geographical sites in the region. The 11 June 1949 entry for his War Diary reads: ‘Eilat ... we drove through the open spaces of the Arava ... from ‘Ein Husb ... to ‘Ein Wahba ... We must give Hebrew names to these places – ancient names, if there are, and if not, new ones!’ (Ben-Gurion 1982, Vol. 3: 989).

Katika kipindi kilichofuata mara moja Nakba, wanaakiolojia wa Israeli na wanachama wa Jumuiya ya Uchunguzi wa Israeli katika Kamati ya Majina ya Serikali walilenga juhudi zao za awali katika kuandaa ramani mpya ya 'Negev' iliyokaliwa hivi karibuni (Abu El-Haj 2001: 91–94). Wakiwa wamepewa jukumu la kuunda majina ya Kiebrania kwa mandhari ya Kipalestina iliyokaliwa hivi karibuni, katika nyaraka zote zilizotolewa na kamati hii kulikuwa na marejeo yaliyoripotiwa ya 'majina ya kigeni'. Umma wa Israeli ulitakiwa 'kung'oa majina ya kigeni na yaliyopo' na badala yake 'kuyafahamu' majina mapya ya Kiebrania. Majina mengi yaliyokuwepo yalikuwa ya Kiarabu. Ikiwa imepewa kazi ya kufuta mamia ya majina ya mahali ya Kiarabu na kuunda majina ya Kiebrania katika Negev, kamati ilifanya kikao chake cha kwanza tarehe 18 Julai na baadaye ilikutana mara tatu kwa mwezi kwa kipindi cha miezi kumi, na ikapa majina ya Kiebrania vipengele 561 tofauti vya kijiografia katika Negev – milima, mabonde, chemchemi na mashimo ya maji – ikitumia Biblia kama chanzo. Licha ya kufutwa kwa majina mengi ya kale ya Kiarabu kutoka mandhari ya Negev, baadhi ya majina ya Kiarabu yalikuwa majina ya Kiebrania yanayofanana kwa sauti: kwa mfano, Seil 'Imran likawa Nahal Amram, inaonekana likimkumbuka baba wa Musa na Haruni; Jabal Haruf ya Kiarabu (Mlima Haruf) ikawa Har Harif (Mlima Mkali), Jabal Dibba (Kilima cha Kitovu) ikawa Har Dla'at (Mlima Boga). Baada ya kukataa jina Har Geshur, kwa jina la watu ambao mke wa tatu wa Mfalme Daudi alikuwa wao, kama jina la Kiebrania kwa Jabal 'Ideid ya Kiarabu (Mlima Unaoenea), kamati iliamua kuuita Har Karkom (Mlima Krokasi), kwa sababu krokasi hukua katika Negev.28 Hata hivyo, sauti ya jina la Kiarabu 'Ideid ilihifadhiwa kwa chemchemi zilizo karibu, ambazo sasa zinaitwa Beerot Oded (Visima vya Oded), inadaiwa kwa kumtaja nabii wa Biblia wa jina hilo. Katika ripoti yake ya Machi 1956 Kamati ya Majina ya Serikali ya Israeli ilisema:

In the immediate post-Nakba period, Israeli archaeologists and members of the Israeli Exploration Society on the Governmental Names Committee concentrated their initial efforts on the creation of a new map for the newly occupied ‘Negev’ (Abu El-Haj 2001: 91–94). Commissioned to create Hebrew names for the newly occupied Palestinian landscape, throughout the documents produced by this committee were reported references to ‘foreign names’. The Israeli public was called upon ‘to uproot the foreign and existing names’ and in their place ‘to master’ the new Hebrew names. Most existing names were Arabic. Charged with the task of erasing hundreds of Arabic place names and creating Hebrew names in the Negev, the committee held its first meeting on 18 July and subsequently met three times a month for a ten-month period and assigned Hebrew names to 561 different geographical features in the Negev – mountains, valleys, springs and waterholes – using the Bible as a resource. Despite the obliteration of many ancient Arabic names from the Negev landscape, some Arabic names became similar-sounding Hebrew names: for example, Seil ‘Imran became Nahal Amram, apparently recalling the father of Moses and Aaron; the Arabic Jabal Haruf (Mount Haruf) became Har Harif (Sharp Mountain), Jabal Dibba (Hump Hill) became Har Dla’at (Mount Pumpkin). After rejecting the name Har Geshur, after the people to whom King David’s third wife belonged, as a Hebrew appellation for the Arabic Jabal ‘Ideid (Sprawling Mountain), the committee decided to call it Har Karkom (Mount Crocus), because crocuses grow in the Negev.28 However, the sound of the Arabic name ‘Ideid was retained for the nearby springs, which are now called Beerot Oded (the Wells of Oded), supposedly after the biblical prophet of the same name. In its report of March 1956 the Israeli Government Names Committee stated:

Katika kipindi kilichofupishwa, majina 145 yalipitishwa kwa maeneo ya mambo ya kale, magofu na matell [neno la Kiarabu kwa vilima au matuta ya kiakiolojia]: majina manane yaliamuliwa kwa msingi wa utambulisho wa kihistoria, 16

In the summarised period 145 names were adopted for antiquities sites, ruins and tells [Arabic for hills or archaeological mounds]: eight names were determined on the basis of historical identification, 16

kulingana na majina ya kijiografia katika eneo hilo, manane kulingana na maana ya maneno ya Kiarabu, na sehemu kubwa zaidi ya majina (113) yaliamuliwa kwa kuiga sauti za maneno ya Kiarabu, kuiga kwa sehemu au kikamilifu, ili kulipa jina jipya tabia ya Kiebrania, kufuatana na kanuni [zinazokubalika] za sarufi na za irabu. (Imenukuliwa katika Abu El-Haj 2001: 95)29

according to geographical names in the area, eight according to the meaning of the Arabic words, and the decisive majority of the names (113) were determined by mimicking the sounds of the Arabic words, a partial or complete mimicking, in order to give the new name a Hebrew character, following the [accepted] grammatical and voweling rules. (Quoted in Abu El-Haj 2001: 95)29

Katika kitabu Hidden Histories, msomi wa Kipalestina Basem Ra’ad (2010), akimnukuu utafiti wa mwaka 1988, Toponymie Palestinienne: Plaine de St. Jean d’Acre et corridor de Jerusalem, wa Thomas Thompson, Francolino Goncalves na J. M. van Cangh, anaonyesha kwamba kamati za majina ya mahali za Israeli zilivuka mbali mipaka ya majukumu yao ya awali.

In Hidden Histories, Palestinian scholar Basem Ra’ad (2010), citing a 1988 study, Toponymie Palestinienne: Plaine de St. Jean d’Acre et corridor de Jerusalem, by Thomas Thompson, Francolino Goncalves and J. M. van Cangh, shows that the Israeli toponymy committees went far beyond their original mandates:

Haikuwepo mapokeo ya kutosha ya Kibiblia ya kutegemea, hivyo mradi uliweza kuendelea tu kwa kuchagua kwa nasibu mahusiano ya Kibiblia au ya Kiyahudi. Ilibidi kuyafanya majina ya Kiarabu yawe ya Kiebrania, au katika hali nyingine kutafsiri Kiarabu kuwa Kiebrania ili kuipa eneo utambulisho unaolingana kiitikadi. Kwa mfano, baadhi ya maeneo yalitamkwa kutoka Kiarabu kwa mfumo wa sauti wa Kiebrania: Minet el-Muserifa ikawa Horvat Mishrafot Yam, na Khirbet el Musherifa ikabadilishwa kuwa Horvat Masref. Wakati mwingine, katika mchakato huu wa kubuni, kamati zilisahau baadhi ya mapokeo halisi ya Kiyahudi, kama ilivyokuwa kwa kufutwa kabisa kwa jina la Kiarabu Khirbet Hanuta, bila kutambua kwamba huenda lilikuwa ni tafsiri ya neno la Kitalmudi Khanotah.

There was simply not enough [biblical] tradition to go by, so [the project] could only continue by picking out Biblical or Jewish associations at random. It had to Hebrewise Arabic names, or in other cases translate Arabic to Hebrew to give the location an ideologically consistent identity. For example, some locations were rendered from Arabic into the Hebrew phonetic system: Minet el-Muserifa became Horvat Mishrafot Yam and Khirbet el Musherifa was changed to Horvat Masref. Sometimes, in this artificial process, the committees forgot about certain genuine Jewish traditions, as in the case of the total cancelling of the Arabic name Khirbet Hanuta, not recognising that it probably rendered the Talmudic Khanotah.

Zoezi hili la kubadilisha majina mara nyingi lilikwenda kinyume hata na mapokeo ya Biblia, hasa katika kufuta majina ya Kiarabu Yalu na ‘Imwas [baada ya 1967]. Yalu ilibadilishwa kuwa Ayallon, wakati ‘Imwas, Emmaus ya Magharibi, inayohusishwa na simulizi la Kristo, ilikuwa mojawapo ya vijiji vitatu, pamoja na Beit Nuba, vilivyobomolewa mwaka 1967. Mawe ya zamani kutoka vijiji hivyo yaliuzwa kwa wakandarasi Wayahudi ili kuyapa majengo mapya mahali pengine mguso wa mapokeo ya kienyeji na umri wa kale, na eneo lote likageuzwa kuwa Hifadhi ya Canada ya kusikitisha, iliyowezekana kwa mamilioni ya fedha kutoka kwa mfadhili wa Kanada.

This forced exercise of re-naming often even went against Biblical tradition, most notably in erasing the Arabic names Yalu and ‘Imwas [after 1967]. Yalu became Ayallon, while ‘Imwas, Western Emmaus, associated with the Christ story, was one of the three villages, along with Beit Nuba, razed in 1967. The old stones from the villages were sold to Jewish contractors to lend local tradition and age to new buildings elsewhere, and the whole area was turned into the tragic Canada Park, made possible by millions from a Canadian donor.

(Ra’ad 2010: 188–189; Thompson et al. 1988).

(Ra’ad 2010: 188–189; Thompson et al. 1988).