What's in a name..?

Something that we may not think enough about here in Palestine/Israel is the importance of names. The layers of history in this land have also created layers of names... from ancient languages like Aramaic and Canaanite, to ancient Hebrew and Arabic. Now of course, there are new layers of names in Arabic, Hebrew and English which contest each other for recognition.

For example, here are a list of some of the major cities in Palestine/Israel and their respective names in the three languages (the best transliteration I could manage):

Arabic - Hebrew - English

Al Quds - Yerushaleim - Jerusalem
Nablus - Shechem - Nablus
Al Khalil - Hevron - Hebron
Ariha - Yericho - Jericho
Al Nasra - Natzrat - Nazareth
Tabariyya - Tveriya - Tiberias
Yaffa - Yafo - Jaffa

Maybe the issue of names seems bland, but in fact it is a very sensitive political and cultural issue. Names are a tool of the Occupation. On some road signs, you find the names of the cities written in Hebrew, and again in Arabic letters but the Hebrew name. For example, instead of writing “Al-Quds” in Arabic, the signs read “Yerushaleim” spelled in Arabic letters. Sometimes the signs have both versions written in Arabic, such as the sign below. This erasing of the Arabic names from recognition is a slow attempt by Israel to marginalize Arab culture here and change the way the land is perceived by the outside. As you might notice, already most of the cities here are known in English by a variation on the Hebrew name. Rarely will you find a foreigner outside of Palestine/Israel who knows of Al-Quds or Al-Khalil.


Sign for Jerusalem, with Transliteration "Yerushaleim" in Arabic script along with (Al-Quds)

Beyond the names of these large cities, over 400 Arab villages and towns within the 1967 borders (Green Line) have had their Arabic names erased from legal record, replaced by new Hebrew names. When I lived in Kufr Qarea last year, often my Arab friends would point out road signs of small Jewish towns, and remind me: “this used to be an Arab village called _____.” There are so many Arab cities and villages whose names have been erased - after the Palestinians were forced to leave in 1948 Jewish people sometimes moved into their homes. Some of the places are not small, some I never knew had an Arab name before. For example, Eilat was Um Rashrash, Megiddo was Al Ajone, and Tel Aviv University is built on the remains of a town called Sheikh Moanis. My friends have not forgotten the original Arab villages there, but perhaps the next generation will. When names are erased from the record, eventually they fade from memory.

This is a tool of occupation, of erasing history. The Arab Palestinians who lived in these villages and cities before 1948 were forcefully expelled from their homes. Remembering their heritage and history is the right of Arab people here. And inside the West Bank, the replacing of Arabic names with Hebrew is another tool of colonization; with the Israelis seeking to maintain even more control over the recognition and memory of places.

Names do have meaning. We can respect the Hebrew names here and know their connection to this land in history, but that does not mean we must erase the Arab connection and memory. So try to remember – Al-Quds (The Holy), al-Khalil (The Friend), and Ariha (Fragrant/Sweet Smell) – along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Jericho. These names may mean more than we realize.