Politics 2.0

LOST IN TRANSLATION
Translating Arab Sentiment about Israel

60 years after the miracle of the restoration of Jewish sovereignty and independence in the formation of the State of Israel, Palestinians still refer to this as “Al-Nakba”, meaning the catastrophe or disaster. Without diving too deeply into the historical dialects on the Arab/Israeli conflict, one thing about Arabic vocabulary seems to be perplexing. In 1948, the Arabs called the declaration of Israel’s Independence as Al-Nakba. Consequently, the Palestinians lost roughly half of the mandated land to Israel and this was a disaster to them.

In 1967, Israel whipped the Arab armies and conquered all of the remaining Palestinian territory. This, in Arabic is known as “an-Naksah” or the setback. But exactly was their setback? They lost everything. Surely the setback, in logical terms, would have been when they lost half of the land and the disaster should have been when they lost all of it? Under the current Arab logic, they say that, in 1948, the glass was completely empty when in fact it was half full. Conversely, they say that, in 1967, the glass was half empty when in fact is completely empty.

Perhaps Jimmy Carter is not the only guy who is lost in translation of Arabic? Or perhaps the only way to explain this illogical translation is that the Arab/Israeli conflict has never been about land but rather about the ‘Chutzpah’ of the Jewish nation standing up against Goliath.