Gazans to Learn Hebrew

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Jodi Rudoren, Hamas-Run Schools Set Out to Teach ‘the Language of the Enemy;’ Seekig to grasp the way Israelis think, starting with Aleph Bet. New York Times, May 23, 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/2 ... ch-hebrew.html?_r=1

Quote:

"Hamas officials chose to add it to the optional curriculum rather than Turkish or German.

"For all its problems of poverty and restricted movement, the Gaza Strip is a place that prides itself on education: illiteracy among its youth was less than 1 percent in 2010, according to the World Bank, and there are five universities within its 139 square miles.

"The schools teach English, though with mixed success.

"The program will be offered to both girls and boys, who attend classes separately here.

"The Palestinian Authority does not teach Hebrew in its schools, and has no plans to do so.

"Here in Gaza, many adults speak some conversational Hebrew, learned decades ago on the job or more recently while serving time in Israeli prisons, but cannot read or write the language, officials said.

"Both Arabic and Hebrew are Semitic languages that share as much as 40 percent of their grammar and word roots, experts say. * * * Both are written and read from right to left.

Note:
(a) For Aleph Bet, see Hebrew alphabet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_alphabet
(22 letters)

* alphabet (n; from Greek alphabētos, from alpha + beta)
www.m-w.com

(b) Hebrew language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew
(Modern Hebrew is spoken by most of the eight million people in Israel, while Classical Hebrew is used for prayer; Hebrew Bible, is written in Classical Hebrew; Modern Hebrew is, along with Arabic, an official language of the State of Israel)

* Modern Hebrew
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Hebrew
(Modern Hebrew was developed in the late 19th century and early 20th century in a process often referred to as the "Revival of the Hebrew language")
* Revival of the Hebrew language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revival_of_the_Hebrew_language
(a process that took place in Europe and Palestine toward the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, through which the language's usage changed from the sacred languages of Judaism to a spoken and written language used for daily life in Israel)

Quote: "The process of Hebrew's return to regular usage is unique; there are no other examples of a natural language without any native speakers subsequently acquiring several million such native speakers, and no other examples of a sacred language becoming a national language with millions of 'first language' speakers.
(c) Gaza Strip
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip
(The territory takes its name from Gaza-city, its main city and administrative center; In 1967, Israel occupied it following the Six-Day War;  Israel unilaterally disengaged from Gaza in 2005)

* Gaza
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza
(also referred to as Gaza City; section 1 Etymology)

(d) The report says, "There are many mountainous challenges for its forlorn schools, with their dilapidated buildings where classes of 50 or more meet in triple shifts."

forlorn (adj; from Old English, past participle of forlēosan to lose, from for- + lēosan to lose):
"being in poor condition : MISERABLE, WRETCHED <forlorn tumbledown buildings>

(e) Palestinian National Authority
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_National_Authority
(formed in 1994, pursuant to the Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the government of Israel; since 2006 elections and especially the Gaza conflict, its authority extends in the West Bank alone)