Graffiti War Erupts Over Israel’s Road Signs
‘It’s a Public Service,’ Says an Activist With Arabic Stickers
By Daniel Estrin
Jerusalem — On a recent night in this ethnically divided city, an Israeli and two American Jews patrolled the streets, armed with a ladder, adhesive spray and a pile of handwritten placards. Every few minutes, they hopped out of the car, slapped a sticker onto a road sign and snapped a picture.
Their operation, which has taken place four times since May, is aimed at countering ultra-nationalist vandals who had defaced the Arabic lettering on Jerusalem’s street signs. Over that vandalism, the new vigilantes, with a more pluralist vision of Israel, have put up stickers with large, flowing Arabic calligraphy spelling out the street’s name.
“It’s a public service,” said Romy Achituv, the Israeli behind the wheel, before speeding off to the next sign on the checklist.
So far, the “maintenance group,” as they call themselves, has gone out four times at night and attended to around 50 signs. The $100 or so that this has cost has come from their own pockets.
It’s the latest move in an ongoing graffiti war that has transformed Israel’s road signs into ideological battlefields. The conflict began in 1999, when an Israeli court ordered Arab-Jewish cities to include Arabic translations on street signs in addition to Hebrew and English. In the years since that order, anti-Arabic vandalism has appeared in mixed cities, such as Akko, as well as on highway signs throughout the country — but it is said to be most prominent in Jerusalem. There, residents have grown used to the Arabic translations of “Jehosaphat Street” or “Slow” being blotted out by black spray paint or covered up in ultra-nationalist bumper stickers.
“In Jerusalem, you have a lot of nationalists who do not accept the very existence of Arabs,” said Sammy Smooha, an Israeli political sociologist at the University of Haifa. “Arabic signs give them the feeling of binationalism, that the Jews have no exclusive monopoly on the town.” Achituv and others on his team contend that Israeli authorities have been uninterested in dealing with the defacing of the Arabic signs.
“The police are not working against this phenomenon,” said Abber Baker, who is an attorney with Adalah, an Arab rights group that petitioned for the Arabic lettering on street signs. “People are not deterred, because there is no accountability. It is never reported as a big issue we need to fight as a state matter.”
Besides the anti-Arab messaging implied in the vandalism, the covered-up Arabic poses a very practical problem for taxi drivers like Muhammed Dabash.
“When I need to take a passenger somewhere, I read the Arabic on the street signs,” Dabash told the Forward.
A Jerusalem policewoman patrolling near a sign pointing to Tel Aviv on which the Arabic had been marked out said she had not noticed the vandalism and that she was not responsible for dealing with such incidents. Stephen Miller, spokesman for Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat, said the city was working to improve its handling of graffiti and other sanitation issues.
“In a city of 800,000, there’s going to be graffiti,” Miller contended, adding that the vandalized road signs are “isolated incidents.”
The vigilante effort to fix what the municipality had not was initiated by Ilana Sichel, who became bothered by the extremist graffiti while spending the year in Jerusalem on a social justice fellowship given by the New Israel Fund and Shatil. Sichel enlisted the help of Josh Berer, a New Israel Fund fellow who previously studied traditional Arabic calligraphy in Yemen, to write the Arabic placards.
“This is fundamentally an issue of decency and neighborliness,” Sichel said.
The initiative is independent of the New Israel Fund, but Vered Nuriel-Porat, the Israeli coordinator of the New Israel Fund fellows, praised the project.
“We’re talking about equality and talking about respecting different cultures,” she said. “The strength of these fellows is just amazing, to keep on doing this.”
Sichel and her crew have made repeated trips to some signs after some of their stickers were ripped off. In one instance, they found a road sign that had been completely cleaned, with no trace of any kind of graffiti or stickers, theirs included. Sichel thought it might have been the municipality, but when she reported to a left-wing activist e-mail list what had happened, a fellow vigilante named Udi replied that he was the one who restored the street signs to their original look.
“I really think you are mistaken,” Sichel wrote in a polite but impassioned e-mail exchange in which she argued that erasing all traces of graffiti hid the real problem. Udi countered that cleaning the street signs was the ultimate goal.
On another front, the group asked the Shalom Hartman Institute, a Jewish research institution that operates a religious high school, to patrol its own vandalized road sign after Sichel reaffixed the Arabic sticker on the sign for the fourth time.
In the meantime, the vigilante maintenance crew invites visitors to Jerusalem to catch a glimpse of the Arabic calligraphy adorning the city’s street signs while they can. It is likely to be a temporary exhibit.
Contact Daniel Estrin at feedback@forward.com
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See more photos and read the first-hand account here: http://joshberer.wordpress.com/
“This is fundamentally an issue of decency and neighborliness,” Sichel said.'
No, this is fundamentally an issue of people with too much time on their hands and engaged in activities designed to give their egos a much needed boost on their personal moral compassion meter. Better to be more honest and go volunteer with ISM in Gaza or Hebron where they will find like-minded souls, both Jew and non-Jew alike.
It seems like an issue of decency and neighbourliness to me. How can Israel claim to be a democracy if it discriminates against some of its citizens? My ancestors came from the part of Poland-Lithuania which became part of Russia after the partitions of Poland. They were absorbed into another country without their consent. The same situation has happened with the Arabs who live in Israel, a Jewish state. They should be treated by Israel the way my ancestors should have been have treated in czarist Russia.
So you see an equivalency of kind between your ancestors and the arabs in Israel by virtue of both being absorbed into another country without their consent? And that's the beginning and end of your insight into the similarities and difference between the two events in the historical, cultural and religious aspect? If so, you have my sympathies.
When your back is against the wall, there are many Jews who will react and who do not suffer from inferiority complexes, many other Jews suffer as a result of centuries of persecution as minorities in hosting countries. The policy of capitulation followed since the Oslo accords has not led to a situation where Arabs have shown willingness to accept Jews and Jewish history. The failed policies of successive Israeli governments have only emboldened Palestinians to reject the historical connection of Jews to Jerusalem. There are Jews who are willing to share, but at the same time are not willing to be endlessly tread upon. On the one hand they are just signs. On the other hand they are signs that Jews are angry that the Palestinians want a solution at the expense of Judaism.
I think this is worthwhile, even if it is just an ego boost as another commenter suggested, still why not? Graffiting over the signs in the first place serves no higher cause but the person or persons doing it.
Mr. Fisher:
It is highly unlikely that a significant number of Jews absorbed into Russia were actively waging, or were complicit with, a war to exterminate the Russian state. Surely that kind of thing tends to put a bit of a stress on a relationship, no?
Assuming that you are correct, I would respond that in contrast to a small minority of the Jewish population that holds that view the overwhelming majority of ALL arabs feels the same about the Jewish presence. So, your efforts would be better utilized in trying to eradicate the arab racism which has always existed in respect to Jews. But of course, it's always easier and less dangerous to one's physical well-being to role-play as a 'moral' crusader in a democracy like Israel than in it is in an arab society firmly in the grip of religious and cultural fascists.
Frank: All the people involved in this project are Jews. No Arabs, no Muslims, no Anti-Semites, no ISM West Bank activists. These are Jews, with Jewish values, and in fact the commitment to those same values drove our actions. The idealism, fortitude, and courage of the settlers you idealize translates into violence, racism, and repression on the streets of our cities. I don't know if you've lived in Israel or simply see it from abroad, but as a Jew who has lived in Israel I can testify that the settler mentality is one of ethno-supremacy: "these Arabs have no right to be here, have no right to drive on our roads, attend our schools, vote in our elections, or be part of our state." Whether you agree with those statements or not, the fact is that racism is not a value I was raised with, and seeing it so virulently present among my own people makes me want to change things. You may call me an apologist, a self-hating Jew, an Arab-lover. The Forward is, was, and remains Jewish, as do those involved with this project.
Frank: All the people involved in this project are Jews. No Arabs, no Muslims, no Anti-Semites, no ISM West Bank activists. These are Jews, with Jewish values, and in fact the commitment to those same values drove our actions. The idealism, fortitude, and courage of the settlers you idealize translates into violence, racism, and repression on the streets of our cities. I don't know if you've lived in Israel or simply see it from abroad, but as a Jew who has lived in Israel I can testify that the settler mentality is one of ethno-supremacy: "these Arabs have no right to be here, have no right to drive on our roads, attend our schools, vote in our elections, or be part of our state." Whether you agree with those statements or not, the fact is that racism is not a value I was raised with, and seeing it so virulently present among my own people makes me want to change things. You may call me an apologist, a self-hating Jew, an Arab-lover. The Forward is, was, and remains Jewish, as do those involved with this project.
A friend of mine proudly called my attention just the other day to the fact that Arabic has the status of an official language in Israel and that street signs are posted in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. I did not realize that the Arabic translations were posted only by court order, and only in 1999. This reflects less well on the Israeli state than my friend had led me to believe.
UN Resolution 252: "...‘declares invalid’ Israel’s acts to unify Jerusalem as Jewish capital" UN Resolution 267: "...‘censures’ Israel for administrative acts to change the status of Jerusalem" UN Resolution 271: "...‘condemns’ Israel’s failure to obey UN resolutions on Jerusalem" UN Resolution 298: "...‘deplores’ Israel’s changing of the status of Jerusalem" UN Resolution 476: "...‘reiterates’ that Israel’s claims to Jerusalem are ‘null and void’ UN Resolution 478: "...‘censures (Israel) in the strongest terms’ for its claim to Jerusalem in its ‘Basic Law’
In his book, L'antisémitisme son histoire et ses causes, published in 1894, noted Jewish author, Bernard Lazare, stated the following with regard to these expulsions of Jews, "If this hostility, even aversion, had only been shown towards the Jews at one period and in one country, it would be easy to unravel the limited causes of this anger, but this race has been on the contrary an object of hatred to all the peoples among whom it has established itself. It must be therefore, since the enemies of the Jews belonged to the most diverse races, since they lived in countries very distant from each other; since they were ruled by very different laws, governed by opposite principles, since they had neither the same morals, nor the same customs, since they were animated by unlike dispositions which did not permit them to judge of anything in the same way, it must be therefore that the general cause of anti-Semitism has always resided in Israel itself and not in those who have fought against Israel." Professor Jesse H. Holmes, writing in, "The American Hebrew," expressed the following similar sentiments, "It can hardly be an accident that antagonism directed against the Jews is to be found pretty much everywhere in the world where Jews and non-Jews are associated. And as the Jews are the common element of the situation it would seem probable, on the face of it, that the cause will be found in them rather than in the widely varying groups which feel this antagonism." Just in Europe and Russia alone, the Jews have been banished 47 times in the last 1,000 years: Mainz, 1012 France, 1182 Upper Bavaria, 1276 England, 1290 France, 1306 France, 1322 Saxony, 1349 Hungary, 1360 Belgium, 1370 Slovakia, 1380 France, 1394 Austria, 1420 Lyons, 1420 Cologne, 1424 Mainz, 1438 Augsburg, 1438 Upper Bavaria, 1442 Netherlands, 1444 Brandenburg, 1446 Mainz, 1462 Lithuania, 1495 Portugal, 1496 Naples, 1496 Navarre, 1498 Nuremberg, 1498 Brandenburg, 1510 Prussia, 1510 Genoa, 1515 Naples, 1533 Italy, 1540 Naples, 1541 Prague, 1541 Genoa, 1550 Bavaria, 1551 Prague, 1557 Papal States, 1569 Mainz, 1483 Warsaw, 1483 Spain, 1492 Italy, 1492 Moravia, 1744 Bohemia, 1744 Moscow, 1891 *
Pat,
"Italy, 1492"
Jews were never expelled from all of Italy (or, for that matter, all of Germany). Neither existed as a unified political entity until the late 19th century.
The reason Jews have been persecuted throughout history? This is not Rocket Science, Pat. Majority populations have always feared and envied minority populations for their skills which are generally lacking amongst the majority. In the case of the Jews, their long history in commerce and trade gave them an expertise which was the envy of Medieval Europe. Combine that with the documented bigotry and intolerance which Christianity displayed towards the Jew throughout most of history, and of which you are a 21st century example, and the reason for these 'banishments' is perfectly clear: Fear, ignorance and bigotry on the part of non-Jewish society.
Anyone who says that signs should not have Arabic on them is a racist war-mongering bigot. Of course it should have Arabic and it should read, 'you're not welcome'.
The G-D of mankind, did He not welcome all that was created into this world? It is written.....Jeremiah 32:27 "I am the LORD, the G-D of all mankind. Is anything too hard for Me?"
Why, if we say we are made in the image of G-D do we find it hard to welcome all mankind that our Creator made by the work of His hands? We belong to our G-D but nevertheless the world has made their gods and to fit what they want. They worship the creature and not the Creator.
It is written.....Happy are Israel, to the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the Torah, by the study of which all hidden paths should be made known to them and sublime mysteries should be revealed to them. These are the road signs we should care about, were we born fools? Are we all blind and off the path?
The land here is the "the land of life", and it is "happy " because its King showers upon it all the blessings pronounced upon it by the patriarchs. Abraham for one. This is through the mystic influence of the Vau, who is always in readiness to pour on it blessing, and who is the "son of freedom" and "son of Jubilee", who obtains for slaves their freedom. He is a scion of the supernal world, and the suther of all life, of all illuminations, and all exalted states. All this does the first-born son draw towards that land, So, 'Happy art thou, O land." On the other hand, the words "Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a boy" refer to the nether earth and the nether world which draw their sustenance only from the dominion of the uncircumcised, and from that king called "boy". Woe to the land that has to draw it sustenance in this manner! For this "boy" possesses nothing of himself, but only such blessings as he receives at certain periods. but when these blessings are withheld from him, when the moon is impaired and darkness prevails, then woe to the world that needs to draw sustenance at that time! And how much the world has to endure before it obtains sustenance from him!
Let me tell you of the head and heel. "In the head" means in the time to come when the dead will come to life; for then the world will be the "head", since it will be established by the "head", that is the supernal world. "In the heel" means now in this world, which merely "heel" and not endowed with pernamence, and so the serpent bites and mankind is in disgrace. See, now a mankind's days were created and located in the supernal grades, but when they draw to the end of their term, when they reach the Scriptural limit of threescore and ten.....Ps.XC ---there remains then no grade any more for them to abide in, and so "their pride is but travail and vanity", and they are as nought. Not so the days of the righteous. They have a permanent abiding. So it is written....."And the life of Sarah was" "and they were" or "remained"---similarly, "And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life" ...Gen. XXV You may object that similarly in the case of ishmael it is written, "and these are the years of the life of Ishmael". Ishmael, however, had in fact repented of his evil ways, and the days of his life attained permanency'.
Remember this-----"He will swallow up death for ever:....Is. XXV and also ----"and I will cause the unclean spirit to pass out of the land" ......Zech. XIII
The Land we should care about is the kingdom of our G-D, the signs and the path we are not taking in this world, will lead to our death.
sorry, the end should be the path we are taking will lead us to our death. We walk in error. Sorry about my typing not good or my spelling but better I write than speak. I wish I could take you into my heart, and show you what it is I try so hard to tell you. But only G-D can come into our hearts and minds, and I pary this will happen to all of you.
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