Hebrew-Arabic guide for Palestinian journalists released by UNESCO

Tuesday July 10, 2007 12:28 by Vasilena Todorova - IMEMC News

A Hebrew-Arabic glossary to instruct Palestinian journalists in basic Hebrew language used by Israeli media was released on Tuesday after over a year of research by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said the UN in a statement.

The Glossary cover

Al-Muftah (‘key’ in Arabic) is a 200-page language guidebook listing Hebrew terms translated into Arabic and explaining the meaning and pronunciation of the news jargon used in Israeli daily news reports. Until now none of the Hebrew instruction books available in Palestine focused on the specific news vocabulary. Al-Muftah aims to give Palestinian reporters a thorough understanding of the political, military and economic terms mostly used in the Hebrew media.

For more a year UNESCO funded and implemented Hebrew language courses for Palestinian media professionals in collaboration with the Israeli Palestinian Media Forum (IPMF.) The immediate follow-up to this program was Al-Muftah glossary, which would help Palestinian journalists follow news reports of Israeli media, said UNESCO.

The book, designed specifically to facilitate the work of Palestinian journalists, was developed by the UN agency and the Media Institute of Birzeit University with the input of Dr. Johnny Mansour, a lecturer of History and author of several books on Arab history and culture. Al-Muftah is available at the IPMF office in Jerusalem and at the Media Institute of Birzeit University.

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