Complaint against the three language system in Palestine, and the dominance of English is voiced by the Arab paper, “Al-Jezirah.” “It is a fact,” the paper states, “that the official language in Palestine is neither the language spoken by the majority nor that of the Jewish minority, but English, the language of our imperialist rulers. The proportion of Arabs who know the English language is not over one per thousand. Hebrew is spoken by only ten per cent of the Palestine Jews. Anyone living among the Jews may see for himself that Palestine has become a Tower of Babel, where they speak every language but Hebrew, which they are now learning in special evening schools.
“English is the only language used by the majority of the Government Departments in all their proceedings. It has replaced the Turkish language of the old regime. What then, is the difference between the past and the present? The Government might explain that if it employed Arabic it would provoke protests from the Jews and if it used Hebrew it would arouse the wrath of the Arabs. Therefore, it uses English. Such an apology is worse than a fault.
“Disregarding the expenses incurred in employing translators in Government offices, we must consider the more serious point of the appointment of new officials. A knowledge of English is the first requirement for appointment to a post in the Government offices. This destroys the chances of Moslems who were trained in Turkish schools and have no knowledge of any European language, except a little French. The Government of Palestine is responsible for this injustice and for the barring of Moslems from public positions,” the paper concludes.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
