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Yocheved Deutch
The examination of Israeli language law demonstrates the intricate relationship between legal policy, ideology and practice. Ideology and practice reflect the character of Israel as a nation-state where Hebrew has been perceived as a national symbol. At the same time, there are several groups in Israel which speak other languages including a considerable minority of Arabic speaking citizens for whom Arabic bears a national significance. The national significance of both Hebrew and Arabic has created an ideological discord which has had an unavoidable influence on the legal policy-making authorities. However, in spite of this ideological conflict, legislation and court decisions have recognized and granted group-differentiated language rights to the Arabic speaking minority. Speakers of other languages have also been granted some language rights. Israel thus illustrates the complexity of granting language rights in a nation-state and also how conflicting rights are balanced to find a compromising solution.
