10.18 Kutoka Yerushalayim hadi Orshalim: Unukuzi wa Majina ya Mahali ya Kiebrania ya Kisasa na Alama za Barabarani kwenda Kiingereza na Kiarabu
10.18 From Yerushalayim To Orshalim: The Transliteration Of New Hebrew Toponyms And Road Signs Into English And Arabic
Mipango rasmi ya Uyahudishaji, Uebraishaji na Ubiblishaji, iliyoanza baada ya 1948, iliendelea hadi enzi za baada ya 1967. Israel ilianza kuingilia alama za barabarani za Kiarabu na majina ya mahali katika Jerusalem Mashariki iliyokaliwa mara tu baada ya Juni 1967. Mwaka huo ilibuni neno jipya, Orshalim, ambalo lilikusudiwa kuwa umbo la Kiarabu la neno la Kiebrania la Jerusalem, Yerushalayim.32 Katika miaka ya hivi karibuni, maelfu ya alama za barabarani zimekuwa uwanja mpya wa vita vya Israel vya kuharakisha ufutaji wa urithi wa majina ya mahali wa Waarabu wa Kipalestina katika ardhi hiyo. Mwelekeo huo, ulioanza kabla ya 1967, ulihusisha pia kutafsiri kwa herufi majina mapya ya mahali ya Kiebrania na alama za barabarani kwenda Kiingereza na Kiarabu. Mnamo Julai 2009, Waziri wa Uchukuzi wa Israel Yisrael Katz alitangaza mpango mpya wa alama za barabarani kwa barabara zote kuu nchini Israel, Jerusalem Mashariki iliyokaliwa na hata sehemu za Ukingo wa Magharibi uliokaliwa, ambazo zingeandikwa kwa ‘viwango sawa’ kwa kubadilisha majina ya asili ya Kiarabu ya mahali kuwa tafsiri za moja kwa moja za jina jipya la Kiebrania. Kijadi, baadhi ya alama za barabarani nchini Israel zilijumuisha majina yaliyoandikwa kwa lugha tatu kutoka juu hadi chini: Kiebrania (kwanza), Kiingereza na Kiarabu. Chini ya mpango wa 2009 wa Wizara ya Uchukuzi, ambao ulikuwa wazi kuhusu sababu ya kisiasa iliyo nyuma ya sera yake, Jerusalem, au al-Quds kwa Kiarabu, ingewekwa sawa kote Jerusalem Mashariki iliyokaliwa kama Yerushalayim na kutafsiriwa kwa herufi kuwa Orshalim kwa Kiarabu; Nazareth, au al-Nasirah kwa Kiarabu, ingewekwa kuwa Natzrat; na Jaffa, bandari ya Kipalestina ambayo machungwa ya Palestina yalijulikana kwa jina la machungwa ya Jaffa, ingekuwa Yafo. Kuhusu Nablus ya Kipalestina, wizara pia ilikuwa ikitafuta njia za kuandika kwa Kiarabu jina la Shechem, linalosikika kama la Kiebrania/kibiblia. Leo, mashirika yote makubwa ya ndege ya kimataifa yanayoruka hadi Uwanja wa Ndege wa Ben-Gurion (zamani uwanja wa ndege wa Lydda, ulioanzishwa mwaka 1936 wakati wa Mamlaka ya Uingereza na baadaye kubadilishwa jina kwa kumtaja Waziri Mkuu wa kwanza wa Israeli) wanatumia unukuzi wa Kiebrania wa jina la mahali la Kiarabu Yafa (Jaffa), wakiwavutia abiria wao, wanapowasili, kwenye hali ya hewa katika eneo la Yafo-Tel Aviv.
The official Judaisation, Hebraicisation and biblicisation schemes which began after 1948 continued into the post-1967 era. Israel began interfering with Arabic road signs and toponyms in occupied East Jerusalem immediately after June 1967. In that year it coined a new word, Orshalim, that was supposed to be the Arabic form of the Hebrew word for Jerusalem, Yerushalayim.32 In recent years thousands of road signs became the latest front in Israel’s battle of accelerating the erasure of the Palestinian Arab toponymic heritage of the land. The pattern, which began before 1967, included the transliteration of newly coined Hebrew toponyms and road signs into both English and Arabic. In July 2009, the Israeli Transport Minister Yisrael Katz announced a new road signs scheme for all major roads in Israel, occupied East Jerusalem and even parts of occupied West Bank to be ‘standardised’ by converting the original Arabic place names into straight transliterations of the new Hebrew name. Traditionally some road signs in Israel included names that were rendered in three languages top-to-bottom: Hebrew (first), English and Arabic. Under the 2009 scheme of the Transport Ministry, which was open about the political motivation behind its policy, Jerusalem, or al-Quds in Arabic, would be standardised throughout occupied East Jerusalem as Yerushalayim and transliterated into Arabic Orshalim; Nazareth, or al-Nasirah in Arabic, would be standardised into Natzrat; and Jaffa, the Palestinian port city after which Palestine’s oranges became famous as Jaffa oranges, would be Yafo. As for Palestinian Nablus, the ministry was also looking for ways to spell the Hebrew/biblical-sounding name Shechem in Arabic.33 Today all major international airlines which fly to Ben-Gurion Airport (formerly Lydda airport, which was created in 1936 during the British Mandatory period and later renamed after Israel’s first Prime Minister) use the Hebrew transliteration of the Arabic toponym Yafa (Jaffa) by drawing the attention of their passengers on arrival to weather in the Yafo-Tel Aviv region.