Cite: Mendel, On the Creation of the Israeli Accelerated Arabic Language Studies Programme

 Mendel, Yonatan. “A Sentiment-Free Arabic: On the Creation of the Israeli Accelerated Arabic Language Studies Programme.” Middle Eastern Studies 49.3 (2013): 383-401.
URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/mes/2013/00000049/00000003/art00003

 

Abstract

This article analyses the creation of the accelerated Arabic language
studies programme in the Israeli-Jewish school system, `The Oriental
Classes’, over the years 1950-67. The article investigates the networks
that enabled and controlled the `Oriental Classes’, the main actors
involved in its operation, the aims of this programme as well as the
ways to achieve them. It argues that this flagship programme serves as
an example of the dominant orientation with which Arabic studies have
been associated in Israeli-Jewish society, that of political and
military intelligence needs, and that this can add a new angle to our
understanding of the way Israel perceives the Arab world, vis-à-vis its
relations with the Arab `other’ and the Palestinian citizens of Israel.