Russian version
Palestinian Word Games
- Информация о материале
- Автор: Daniel Pipes
New York Sun
January 4, 2005
We read that "Prime Minister" Mahmoud Abbas is running in the elections
on Sunday to succeed Yasser Arafat as "president" of "Palestine."
Excuse me, but prime minister, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica,
means the "head of the executive branch of government in states with a
parliamentary system." Despite tens of thousands of references to Mr. Abbas
as prime minister, he in not a single way fits this description.
Oh, and there is also the matter of there being no country called Palestine.
Arab maps show it in place of Israel. The U.N. recognizes its existence.
So too do certain telephone companies – for example, France's Bouygues
Telecom and Bell Canada. Nonetheless, no such place exists.
One can dismiss use of these terms as symptoms of the same unrealism
that has undermined Palestinian Arab war efforts since 1948. But they also
promote the Palestinian cause (a polite way of saying, "the destruction
of Israel") in a vital way.
In an era when the battle for public opinion has an importance that
rivals the clash of soldiers, the Palestinian Arabs' success in framing
the issues has won them critical support among politicians, editorial writers,
academics, street demonstrators, and NGO activists. In the aggregate, these
many auxiliaries keep the Palestinian effort alive.
Especially in a long-standing dispute with a static situation on the
ground, public opinion has great significance. That's because words reflect
ideas – and ideas motivate people. Weapons in themselves are inert; today,
ideas inspire people to pick up arms or sacrifice their lives. Software
drives hardware.
Israel is winning on the basic geographic nomenclature. The state is
known in English as Israel, not the Zionist entity. Its capital is called
Jerusalem, not Al-Quds. Likewise, Temple Mount and Western Wall enjoy far
more currency than Al-Haram ash-Sharif or Al-Buraq. The separation barrier
is more often called a security fence (keeping out Palestinian suicide
bombers) than a separation wall (bringing to mind divided Berlin).
In other ways, however, the Palestinian Arabs' wording dominates English-language
usage, helping them win the war for public opinion.
· Collaborator means someone who "cooperates treasonably" and brings
to mind the French and Norwegian collaborators who betrayed their countries
to the Nazis. Yet this term (rather than informant, mole, or agent) universally
describes those Palestinian Arabs providing Israel with information.
· Refugee status normally applies to someone who, "owing to a well-founded
fear of being persecuted . . . is outside the country of his nationality,"
but not to that person's descendants. In the Palestinian case, however,
children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of refugees also merit
refugee status. One demographer estimates that more than 95% of so-called
Palestinian Arab refugees never fled from anywhere. Nonetheless, the term
continues to be used, implying that millions of Palestinian Arabs have
a right to move to Israel.
· A settlement is defined as a small community or an establishment
in a new region. Although some Jewish towns on the West Bank and in Gaza
have tens of thousands of residents and have existed for nearly four decades,
settlement, with its overtones of colonialism, is their nearly universal
name.
· Occupied territories implies that a Palestinian state existed in
1967, when Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza. That was not the case,
making these areas legally disputed territories, not occupied ones.
· Cycle of violence, a term President George W. Bush has adopted ("the
cycle of violence has got to end in order for the peace process … to begin"),
implies a moral equivalence between the killing of Israeli civilians and
Palestinian Arab terrorists. It confuses the arsonist with the fire department.
· The peace camp in Israel – a term that derives from Lenin's usage
– refers to those on the left who believe that appeasing mortal enemies
is the only way to end Palestinian aggression. Those in favor of other
approaches (such a deterrence) by implication constitute the "war camp."
In fact, all Israelis are in the "peace camp" in the sense that all want
to be rid of the conflict; none of them aspires to kill Palestinian Arabs,
occupy Cairo, or destroy Syria.
Arabs may have fallen behind Israel in per capita income and advanced
weaponry, but they lead by far on the semantic battlefield. Who, a century
back, would have imagined Jews making the better soldiers and Arabs the
better publicists?
Russian version
Russian version
An introduction to MAOF
Haim Goldman
Haim Goldman
Dear Friends,
Would you believe that the undersigned has anything in common with
-- Professor Victor Davis Hanson (Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University),
-- Dr Charles Krauthammer, (Washington Post, Time, The Weekly Standard),
-- Caroline Glick (Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem Post),
-- Jonathan Tobin (Executive Editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent).
Amazingly, the editors of the MAOF website decided that the missives of the undersigned are worthy of translation and posting along the articles written by these distinguished authors.
The first letter was published without the consent of the undersigned.
However, after thorough examination of the laudable attitude of MAOF and of the excellent contents of the website, the undersigned had most graciously granted his permission for publication of his missives in both English and Russian.
“Analytical Group MAOF” [1] is an organisation founded about ten years ago by Russian-speaking Jewish intellectuals. The attitude of MAOF is definitely pro-Zionist -- unambiguously and unapologetically.
One of MAOF’s primary purposes is providing information and analysis about Middle-Eastern and world affairs as well as about Israel’s history, values and dilemmas. In addition to extensive publication activity in various media, MAOF also organises excursions and seminars. While the vast majority of the contents of the MAOF website is in Russian, texts originally written in English are provided in the original [2] as well as in Russian.
There are arguably about 250 millions of Russian-speakers worldwide and many of them do not read English. The indisputable motivation for the author’s permission was to grant those millions of disadvantaged people the grand benefit of reading the author’s ruminations. If the author is ever maliciously accused that his tacit motivation for authorising the publication was his craving to be listed along with the above-mentioned distinguished writers, his plea will definitely be “nolo contendere”.
The editors of MAOF expressed their gratitude by granting the undersigned a privilege that no other author got – the opportunity to review and correct the Russian translation before publication. The original letters of the undersigned are at [3] and their Russian version is at [4]. At of today, only two letters are posted but several other letters are pending translation.
You are kindly ENCOURAGED TO RECOMMEND the MAOF website to your friends and colleagues worldwide, particularly those who speak Russian. Those who do not enjoy the benefit of proficiency in the exquisite Russian language can find many thought-provoking and inspiring articles about Middle-Eastern and world affairs in the English section [2].
Sincerely,
Haim Goldman
28.10.2006
REFERENCES:
[1] http://maof.rjews.net
[2] section.php3? sid=37&num=25
[3] authorg.php3? id=2107&type=a
[4] authorg.php3? id=2166&type=a