Page 48 - The Economist

48 Middle East and Africa The Economist December 9th 2017
Language in Israel strong,withthesamerightsandbudgetsas Leadership in Africa
Signs of everyone else,” saysGila Gamliel, the min- 48 shades of grey
isteroverseeingthe plan.
The new policy has sometimes been
improvement implemented insensitively. Arab cities like
Jaffa, Acre and Nazareth are given Hebrew
namesonArabicsigns.Especiallygallingis
TEL AVIV “Awrushaleem”, an Arabised version of KAMPALA
Arabicis increasinglyvisible in Israel’s “Jerusalem” in place of“Al-Quds”, the usu- Africa’s ageing leaders don’tknow
publicspaces when to quit
al Arabic name for the city. Signs are also
WO years ago Ayman Odeh, the prag- HebraisingwhatArabscall “Tel Abib”: Ara- HE old taxi park in central Kampala,
TmaticnewleaderofIsrael’sArabparlia- bic has no letter V, so the large sign at a Tel TUganda’s noisy, traffic-clogged capital,
mentarybloc,saidthatwithinadecadeAr- Aviv station has a workaround—three dots isa huge patch ofbare earth and mud filled
abic would be “on Tel Aviv street signs as below the letter B—that make the sign look almost entirely with minibuses. Battered,
part and parcel of the urban environ- morelikeUrdu.“It’shumiliatingtoseeAra- often still with old Chinese names painted
ment”. It is happening faster than he pre- bic treated with such disrespect,” says Mo- on the side, these are the core of the city’s
dicted. Across Jewish as well as Arab hammad Darawshe, an activist. transport system. Each day, they bring
towns, Arabic signage is sproutingon high- SomeIsraeliofficialsresistthespreadof thousands ofcommuters into the city.
ways, bus routes and, most recently, rail- Arabic. The mayor of Beersheva, a south- Yet this is also, curiously, a centre ofpol-
way stations. Some 40% of the digital pan- ern town of 200,000 Jews surrounded by itics. To enter the rank, drivers must pay a
els on public buses now list their routes in 100,000 Arabs, tried to ban bus announce- fee of 120,000 Ugandan shillings (roughly
Arabic alongside Hebrew, up from near mentsin the language. And Israel Railways $34) per month to the city council. In No-
zero two years ago. By 2022, says the gov- has refused to follow Jerusalem’s tramline vember, hundreds of them surrounded
ernment,theservicewillbefullybilingual. inannouncingstopsinArabicoverthetan- PresidentYoweri Museveni’sconvoyto de-
A new department pumps out road-safety noy. “It would be too noisy,” explained its mand a reduction. The ageing president
warnings in Arabic. chiefexecutive. Banksofferonline services conceded; from January, the fee will be cut
In tandem, a five-year plan, Resolution in Arabic. But the only Arabic that visitors by a third. But that may not mollify the
922, aims to narrow the gap between Jews could find in the central bank’s corridors drivers. “We are still not happy,” says
andArabsineducation,housingandpolic- were prohibitions against smoking. Waiswa Mubarak, a 30-year-old driver.
ing. Though not the first, it is by far Israel’s Some Israelis fear that a bilingual coun- “According to us youths, he has to retire. If
most ambitious. It costs 15bn shekels trymightbecomeabinationalone.MrNet- he doesn’t, we will force him to.”
($4.3bn),andunlikepreviousplanswasde- anyahu’s cabinet is backing a bill designat- Mr Museveni, aged 73, has been presi-
vised togetherwith Arab representatives. ing Israel the nation-state of the Jews and dent since 1986, longer than four-fifths of
The government of Binyamin Netanya- stripping Arabic of its official status. “The Ugandans have been alive. But he shows
hu, the prime minister, is often derided as more Arabic we hear, the more the govern- no sign of retirement planning. Earlier this
chauvinist. So its espousal of integration ment wants to downgrade its status,” says year, he described himselfasa “wonderful
surprises many. Mr Netanyahu often plays Yonatan Mendel, an expert on Arabic edu- dictator”. Before the end of the year, his al-
up the Arab threat, particularly at election cation. Israelis are justly proud of having lies in parliament are expected to force
time. However, he sees pragmatic reasons revived Hebrew as a spoken language—a through a change to the constitution, re-
fortreatingIsraeli Arabs a bit better. feat akin to resurrecting Latin in everyday moving an age-limit of 75 for candidates,
Israel’s1.8m Arabs are citizens, and Ara- conversation. But for some, that is not allowinghim to run again in 2021.
bic is an official language which most Jews enough; Hebrew should have no rival. 7 But after the sudden fall of Robert Mu-
study in school. But for decades after inde- gabe in Zimbabwe some are beginning to
pendence the authorities left most Arabs wonder if Mr Museveni too might suffer a
isolated in ill-funded villages and towns similar fate. Nor is he alone. Africa is the
without transport to the country’s eco- world’s youngest continent: south of the
nomic hubs. As of 2015, 53% of Arabs were Sahara the median age is 18. Yet two-fifths
poor, against 14% of Jews. The gap fed re- of the region’s leaders are over 70, with a
sentment. Israeli Arabs now fly Palestinian mean age of 65. Some, such as Muham-
flags at their rallies. For years security offi- madu Buhari of Nigeria (74) and Ellen
cials have warned that, without integra- Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia (79), were freely
tion, Israel’s Arabs would rally behind Pal- elected and will no doubt step down
estinians in the occupied territories. peacefully. Others are determined to cling
Government economists add that includ- on—but may find that hard.
ing Arabs more fully in the economy Paul Biya of Cameroon (84) has faced
would give ita boost—much asimmigrants protests in the north-west and south-west
from the former Soviet Union did in the of the country for over a year now. Denis
1990s, says Amir Levy, who drafted the Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville (74)
five-yearplan. has resorted to air strikes on opposition ar-
Since the plan was approved in 2015, a eas. Another former dictator, José Eduardo
third of the budget has been spent. The dos Santos of Angola (now 75), stepped
transport ministry is connecting Arab down in September as his unpopularity
townstoJewishhubssuchasTelAvivwith soared and is now watching his family’s
over 300 new and upgraded routes. One empire beingdismantled by hissuccessor.
aim is to get more Arab women into work. In Kampala, though many were excited
Last month Mr Netanyahu opened the first by the fall of Mr Mugabe, few expect a
of17policestationstobestaffedbyArabof- coup. But many are beginning to wonder
ficers in Arab towns. “If we want Israel to whetherMrMuseveni will everleave pow-
be strong, we need our minorities to be Some don’t want to see any Arabic er unless he is forced. Some 75% of Ugan- 1