Changes in Jewish Attitudes Towards the Arabic Language During the Nineteenth–Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

Abstract The changing attitudes of the Jewish population in Palestine, later The State of Israel, toward the Arabic language was affected by the historical and social changes that occurred in the Middle East and the changing relations between Jews and Arabs. From the beginning of the revival of the Jewish community in Palestine in the nineteenth century until the end of the twentieth century, one can perceive quite a sharp decline in the Jewish public’s attitude toward Arabic. From being an essential instrument for accommodation in the region and later an important source for the revival of Hebrew, up to a being a channel of hope for dialogue between Jews and Arabs, it eventually became amongst the Jewish Israeli public a language to be taught mainly for governmental needs. Still, appeals by Israeli intellectuals reverberated, calling for the teaching of Arabic for a better understanding of the Arab neighbours and the Middle East.