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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/18215/full/18215/court-orders-street-signs-in-arabic-hebrew/ <br /><br /> <b>Court orders street signs in Arabic, Hebrew</b> <br /> Friday, August 2, 2002 | by <p>DAN IZENBERG </p> <br /><br /><p>JERUSALEM—Cities with mixed Jewish-Arab populations will be now be obliged to put up bilingual street signs in Hebrew and Arabic, according to a ruling handed down by the Supreme Court.<br /><br /> The ruling came in response to a petition by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel and Adalah, the Israeli Arab human rights organization, demanding that all street signs in Tel Aviv, Lod, Ramle, Acre and Upper Nazareth include Hebrew and Arabic.<br /><br /> The cities agreed to increase the number of street signs in Hebrew and Arabic, but rejected the demand to display every street sign in both languages.<br /><br /> The panel of three justices was split, with Supreme Court President Aharon Barak and Justice Dalia Dorner voting in favor of the petition, and Justice Mishael Cheshin voting against.<br /><br /> Barak wrote that the use of language serves both individual and communal interests and that some of these interests clash with others. In the case of street signs, there is an additional specific interest, which justifies displaying them in Arabic as well as Hebrew.<br /><br /> "In the context of the services that the city provides, the Arab population must be allowed to be familiar with those areas of the city in which it does not live," wrote Barak.<br /><br /> "An Arab resident who wants to find his way around the city, to enjoy its services, or attend an event taking place in a side street where there is no Arab population, is entitled to have street signs enabling him to reach his destination," he ruled.<br /><br /> Barak concluded that any new signs being put up, or old ones being replaced, must be written in Hebrew and Arabic from now on. The cities have two years to replace street signs on main streets, municipal institutions, and neighborhoods with sizable Arab populations. The rest of the street signs must be replaced within four years.<br /><br /> Adalah attorney Jamal Dakwar said he "regards the High Court decision as a very important step toward the establishment of the Arabic language as an official language in Israel and as the language of the Arab minority, which constitutes a national minority in Israel. This decision is an important contribution toward the recognition of the collective rights of the Arab citizens of Israel, and above all the right to language and culture."</p> <p> </p>

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