Muhammad Amara

Beit Berl College · Graduate Studies

يفحص هذا الكتاب-بصورة معمقة تجليات العولمة والعبرنة في المجتمع العربي الفلسطيني في إسرائيل من ناحية، وتأثيراتها وإسقاطاتها عليه من ناحية أُخرى، ولا سيما فيما يتعلق بالهوية واللغة العربية والمشهد اللغوي. ويعاين مدى تغلغل ظاهرة العبرنة -مع كل ما تحمله من دلالات لغوية وأيديولوجية-وتشابكها مع الأسرلة والعولمة والتكنولوجيا، ثم تأثير ذلك كله في هذا المجت...

تمهيد مرّ المجتمع العربيّ الفلسطينيّ في إسرائيل بتحولات كبيرة. بدايةً، إثر النكبة التي حلّت بالشعب الفلسطينيّ، وجراءَها، تشتّت أبنائه في كل أصقاع الأرض، وفقدان سيادته في فلسطين. فقد غدا أبناء الشّعب الفلسطينيّ، مَنْ بقي منهم في أرض الوطن، مواطنين رغمًا عنهم في دولة جديدة، التي تُعرِّف نفسها دولةً يهوديّةً-صهيونيّةً. وكنتيجةٍ إلى هذا التّعريف تُعطَى...

Alternative education schools are a relatively recent phenomenon in the Palestinian-Arab society in Israel. They have been established in response to the growing dissatisfaction with the education provided by the state in mainstream schools. While previous research has sufficiently detailed their characteristics, there is little research on the cha...

This study aims to explore language education policy among Palestinian Arab kindergarten teachers in Israel, employing the framework of language policy proposed by Spolsky (2009), based on three major components: language practices, language ideologies, and language management. A mixed-method research approach consisting of both quantitative and qu...

اللغة هي أحد المركبات المهمة التي تشكل الهوية الجمعية، وأهميتها تختلف باختالف ألاوضاع والسياقات، وهذه الأهمية أقل بالنسبة إلى بعض المجموعات، وأكبر لدى مجموعات أخرى. ومن هذا المنطلق، ستتناول هذه الدراسة اللغة العربية ودورها المحوري في تشكيل الهوية الجمعية في الدول العربية عامة، ولدى العرب الفلسطينيين في إسرائيل خاصة. Language is one of the importan...

This article examines the role of Arabic Language Academies compared to the Hebrew Language Academy in the Israeli context. This is a unique context to examine, since we talk about a single academy constructed for the Jewish majority, and multiple academies for the Arab Palestinian minority within the state of Israel. Language academies are establi...

Introduction Academia is acknowledged as playing a significant role in shaping society, directly and indirectly. Higher education institutions are central sources of knowledge and discourse design (Etzkowitz & Viale, 2010); they are a symbol of ethic and values (Bok & Bok, 2009); a place that cultivates economic, social, and political leaders (Asti...

This article examines Arabic instruction in Israeli Hebrew schools with regard to the political, social, cultural, historical and pedagogical issues shaping it. It examines challenges facing Arabic instruction in Israel’s education system, emphasising the dissonance between potential benefits of studying Arabic and its overall marginalised status i...

The Palestinian citizens of Israel are in conflict with the Jewish majority on two central issues: internally there is the problem of the definition of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, resulting in marginal civil and national status for the Palestinians in Israel; externally, there is the effect of the continued struggle between Arab states...

בצל הסכסוך הערבי-ישראלי בכלל והישראלי-פלסטיני בפרט, הפכה השפה הערבית משפת השכן לשפת האויב, משפת הרוב הערבי בשנים שקדמו להקמת המדינה, לשפתו של המיעוט בישראל לאחר הקמתה. מיד עם קום המדינה, שמרה הערבית על מעמדה כשפה רשמית, לצד העברית, אולם מאז ועד היום היא הייתה נחותה מהעברית בכל מדד. ביולי 2018, עם חקיקת חוק יסוד: ישראל- מדינת הלאום של העם היהודי, נק...

ملخص تملك مدارس التربية البديلة خصائص مميزة من حيث الجو التعليمي - التربوي الذي يجذب الطلاب اإلى التعلم، واإلى الذهاب اإلى المدرسة، ولديها منظومة العلاقات الودية بين المعلمين والطلاب، وتعمل على بلورة الهوية الوطنية، وتسعى لصقل شخصية بديلة، من خلال الأساليب التعليمية والممارسات التربوية البديلة. إن القيمة التي تميز التعليم البديل لا تقتصر على الأسال...

My Language is My Identity Towards a Comprehensive Language Policy to Meet the Challenges of Arabic in Israel Muhammad Amara Preface Language plays a significant role in the lives of individuals, communities and peoples, as we will show below. They are essential for socialization, for individual and collective identity, as well as for building an...

Introduction Historical Palestine has undergone many geopolitical transformations, each of which has left an imprint on the language and culture of its people (Amara, 2003). However, none have been more dramatic than developments which have taken place in the last century. Since the British Mandate period, Hebrew, English, and Arabic have been rega...

تقديم يسرّنا أن نضع بين أيديكم كتاب «أبحاث ودراسات في اللغة العربية وآدابها» الذي يصدر عن مركز إبراهيم عدنان سعدي لأبحاث اللغة العربية وآدابها، في كلية كي الأكاديمية في بئر السبع، وذلك انسجامًا مع أهداف المركز العلمية والأكاديمية. يهدف مركز إبراهيم عدنان سعدي لأبحاث اللغة العربية وآدابها إلى العمل على دعم البحث العلمي في مجال اللغة العربية وآدابه...

تُنشئ اللغة الحدود القومية والثقافية بين ناطقي لغة الأم والاخرين، وهي في ذلك أحد أهم مركبات الهوية الفردية والجمعية (Haarmann, 1999; Suleiman, 2011). وبشكل مشابه، اللغة تلعب دورا جوهريا في الحلبة العامة: كلما كان موقع وبروز اللغة أعلى، كلما ازدادت قيمتها الرمزية وحيويتها (Amara, 2018a). وهكذا، المعرفة التي لها صلة باستخدام ومكانة اللغة العربية في إ...

The past two decades have witnessed the emergence of alternative schools in Palestinian-Arab society in Israel. Drawing on data from interviews and observations at two prominent alternative schools, we examine the rationale for establishing alternative schools in Palestinian-Arab society in Israel and their characteristics. The analysis reveals tha...

Proper names are widely found in the linguistic landscape including shop names. They transmit factual information and are used to appeal to emotions representing ‘symbolic rather than structural or semantic expression’. The current study investigates shop names in six Palestinian Arab localities in Israel employing quantitative and qualitative rese...

This exploratory study investigates the representation of the most prominent cultural elements in six English-language juniors-high and high-school textbooks in Israel. Quantitative and qualitative research methods for collecting data were employed. First, a content analysis of the cultural contents of the textbooks examined in the study was perfor...

ها هو كتاب "دراسات في اللغة العربية وآدابها" يصدر عن مركز إبراهيم عدنان سعدي لأبحاث اللغة العربية وآدابها، في كلية كي الأكاديمية. ويأتي ذلك انسجاما مع أهداف المركز العلمية والأكاديمية. ويهدف مركز إبراهيم عدنان سعدي لأبحاث اللغة العربية وآدابها إلى العمل على دعم البحث العلمي في مجال اللغة العربية وآدابها والمساهمة في جعله رافعة اجتماعية وإنسانية. وذ...

The linguistic repertoire of Palestinian citizens in Israel is complex and diverse. Arabic is the language of personal, cultural, and national identity. Hebrew is important for social mobility, higher education, and shared citizenship. English, as a global language, is a window to the wider world (Amara, Policy and teaching English to Palestinian s...

This article, written by Muhammad Amara, analyses the names given to the different wars – from 1948 hitherto – on both the Israeli and Arab sides. Amara surveys and analyses the names given to six wars (in the years 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 and 2006), two Palestinian intifāḍas (1987 and 2000), and three Israeli attacks on Gaza (2008, 2012 and 2...

Arabic is the offi cial language in 23 countries in the Middle East (all except Turkey and Iran) and North Africa ( Suleiman 1999 ). In four countries (Israel, Chad, Somalia, and Djibouti), Arabic is an offi cial language alongside other languages. Outside the Middle East and North Africa, Arabic has a special status in Islamic countries such as Mala...

Arabic in Israel Language, Identity and Conflict Muhammad Amara Series: Routledge Studies in Language and Identity In Arabic in Israel, Amara analyses the status of Arabic following the creation of the State of Israel and documents its impact on the individual and collective identity of Israel’s Palestinian Arab citizens. The interplay of language...

The past two decades have witnessed the emergence of alternative schools in the Arab-Palestinian Society in Israel. This paper examines attempts to establish alternative education schools in the traditionally conservative Arab-Palestinian society in Israel and determine the reasons that led to groups of parents and social activists to implant the f...

تعالج هذه المقالة باختاصر العوامل التي أدت إلى الانقلاب السياسي في إسرائيل سنة 1977 وتسلم الليكود السلطة لأول مرة، وتناقش بشيء من التفصيل تحولات الخطاب السياسي لفلسطينيي الـ 48 باتجاه تعريف إسرائيل كدولة قومية ـ اثنية ـ يهودية، والبحث عن مكانة لهم في إسرائيل.

بعد إنشاء دولة إسرائيل، عاش العرب- الفلسطينيين في إسرائيل كأقلية معزولة، ماديًا واجتماعيًا وثقافيًا، عن العالم العربي المجاور. وكان لهذا الواقع تأثير كبير على بلورة هويتهم القومية، الدينية، والثقافية. وقد ساهم هذا الواقع من جهة أخرى على تعميق أزمة الهوية وجعلها مركبة ومتناقضة داخليا. فمن جهة، ظل العرب الفلسطينيون في إسرائيل مرتبطين وجدانيا، ثقافيا،...

לקונטקסט החברתי הפוליטי בכלל ולסכסוכים פוליטיים בפרט יש השפעה על הדפוסים הלשוניים–חברתיים )סוציו–לינגוויסטיים( בכל חברה נתונה. השפה אפוא היא חלק מהמציאות החברתית–פוליטית, ולא רק שהיא משקפת אותה, אלא היא אף מעצבת אותה. מכאן שבענייננו, במסגרת דיון על מקומה של השפה הערבית במרחב הציבורי הישראלי בכלל ובמרחב האקדמי בפרט, אפשר ללמוד רבות הן על מקומה...

This article argues that the identity labels attached to the Palestinians in Israel resulted from a reciprocal interchange of ideas between the Israeli political establishment and the Palestinians themselves, as part of the struggle over identity between the two parties. Each side chose identity labeling criteria that fit its narrative. This shows...

הקדמה המציאות הישראלית מצביעה על מספר שסעים עמוקים בחברה: השסע העדתי (אשכנזים-מזרחיים), הדתי (חילוניים-דתיים), המגדרי (גברים-נשים) והלאומי (ערבים-יהודים). השסע העמוק והבולט מכולם הוא השסע הלאומי. בישראל אין פתרון עד עכשיו לשסע זה בשל ההגמוניה היהודית של המדינה. הצביון היהודי-ציוני של המדינה לא מאפשר הכלה של קבוצות אתניות מחוץ לקונזנסוס הציוני. לכן,...

ThisarticlearguesthattheidentitylabelsattachedtothePalestiniansinIsrael resulted from a reciprocal interchange of ideas between the Israeli political establishment and the Palestinians themselves, as part of the struggle over identity between the two parties. Each side chose identity labeling criteria that fit its narrative. This shows that such lab...

The elections of May 1977 marked the beginning of a new phase in the history of Israel. After three decades during which the Zionist left, represented by Mapai (later the Labor Party), held power, the Zionist revisionist right, represented by the Likud Party headed by Menahem Begin, for the first time won an election and formed a government. The re...

The emerging importance of language landscape (LL) in the past two decades is related to various changes, primarily new technologies and globalization, and their impact on public space. The field of LL has risen to prominence following the publication of several important works on the topic including Spolsky and Cooper (1991), Landry and Bourhis (1...

The chapter examines policy and teaching English among Palestinian schoolchildren in Israel, relating them to their complex linguistic repertoire, the Israeli context, and English as a global language. Today, Arabic is the language of instruction in Palestinian schools in Israel. Hebrew is learned as a second language by all the Palestinian pupils...

Abstract This study compares first names among both Palestinian male and female people in Israel and the West Bank (Palestine), examining how the socio-political upheaval of the Palestinian people over the last few decades is reflected in their system of selecting first names. The study found that personal names express various socio-cultural trait...

The chapter describes the impact of the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel. It focuses on the reflections of the political discourse in the political organization of the Palestinians/Arab in Israel and in their relationship with the State, as compared with that which had prevailed prior to the occupation. The main thesis...

This study examines attitudes towards bilingual Jewish–Arab education among Jewish and Arab adults in Israel. The sample consisted of 1014 respondents who participated in a national phone survey in late 2006. Results indicate that Arabs are significantly more supportive of bilingual education in Israel than Jews. Positive attitudes regarding the im...

This paper examines the socio-political role assigned to Arabic in four position papers published by Arab-Palestinian institutions in Israel and widely known as the Future Vision documents. Proposing a blueprint for conceding more power-sharing, recognition, and equality to the Palestinian minority in Israel, the documents call for an end to the li...

Reem Bassiouney: Arabic Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2009, xvii + 311, ISBN 978 0 7486 2374 7 Muhammad Amara The Arabic language in the Arab world faces both internal and external challenges. The major internal challenges are: diglossia, the local dialects, and language modernization. The major external challenge is...

Under the Israeli language education policy, the mother tongue is learned first for several years, followed by a second language (English for Jews, Hebrew for Arabs) and then a third language (English for Arabs, Arabic/French for Jews). This type of limited bilingualism seems to suit the Israeli reality in the context of the Israeli–Arab conflict,...

Hebrew as a second language is not only taught to Israeli Palestinians, but also to adult immigrants and their young children. However, in the case of immigrants the purpose is to replace their immigrant language with Hebrew, while among Israeli Palestinians it is acknowledged as additive. Hebrew is a compulsory language for Israeli Palestinian pup...

Muhammad Hasan Amara is a senior lecturer in the Departments of Political Studies and English at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. His academic interests are language education, language policy, sociolinguistics, and language and politics. His publications include Politics and sociolinguistics reflexes: Palestinian border villages (1999), a b...

Muhammad Hasan Amara is a senior lecturer at the Departments of Political Studies and English at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. His academic interests are language education, language policy, sociolinguistics, and language and politics. His publications include Politics and sociolinguistics reflexes: Palestinian border villages (1999), Lan...

The status of Arabic in Israel gives rise to question. Israel is a rare case of an ethnic nation-state that grants the language of minority group with a legal status which is prima facie one of equality. Both Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages of the State of Israel. What are the reasons for this special state of affairs? The answer is th...

Linguistic landscape (LL) refers to linguistic objects that mark the public space. This paper compares patterns of LL in a variety of homogeneous and mixed Israeli cities, and in East Jerusalem. The groups studied were Israeli Jews, Palestinian Israelis and non-Israeli Palestinians from East Jerusalem, of whom most are not Israeli citizens. The stu...

Introduction Israeli reality points to a number of deep divisions within the population (such as between Sephardi and Ashkenazi, Orthodox and secular, men-women, Arab-Jew), most of which, in my opinion, are progressively decreasing as time passes. As is known, the Arab-Jewish divide is the deepest of all, and there is still no solution, because of...

. Background Since its founding Israel was declared as an ethnic national state. The definition and perception of Israel as an ethnic Jewish State was reflected in its monolingual ideology and the ignorance of the multicultural reality. “While Israel has operated essentially as a Type I monolingual country since its independence in 1948, it is mult...

The town of Bethlehem provides a unique case for testing the relations between language, migration, and urbanization. This article explores one aspect of the complex Bethlehemite case. We intend to reveal how urbanization and migration are reflected in the sociolinguistic changes of the Arabic spoken in the town. Whereas most residents formerly use...

يتناول هذا الكتاب بالتفصيل بعض جوانب التصدع العربي– اليهودي الذي يطرح أسئلة أساسية بخصوص مكانة العرب-الفلسطينيين في إسرائيل وتعليم اللغات في مدارسهم منذ تأسيس الدولة وحتى يومنا هذا. ولتحقيق هذه الغاية، تم فحص العوامل الداخلية والخارجية والمركبات السياسية والاجتماعية والبيداغوغية التي تؤثر في التربية اللغوية والإنجازات في حقل التعليم . تتمثل العوامل...

The paper investigates the development of foreign language education policies in Palestine, at a time when the establishment of a Palestinian state has become a real option, and when, following the Oslo agreements, the Palestinians have become responsible for Palestinian education. As the New Palestinian Curriculum shows, an international orientati...

After five decades of the existence of the State of Israel, the question of collective identity of various discrete groups, particularly the Arab minority, still plays a central role in the life of the country. It is likely that, today more than ever, Israel faces a new period of defining the country's identity, as a result of the peace process wit...

This study investigates the structure and components of the Arab identity repertoire in Israel. We analyse the relative salience of each component and the structural relations among the components. In addition we interpret the meanings associated with each component of the Arab identity repertoire in Israel. Our study differs from traditional inves...

Without Abstract

Few works so far (Landau 1987; Koplewitz 1992; Spolsky 1994; Spolsky and Shohamy 1999a, 1999b) have dealt extensively with Arabic in Israel. However, in all these studies it was not clear enough how the changed political situation brought about the downplaying of the role of Arabic in the public spheres in Israel and also within the Arab community...