Intifada Dictionary 2: The language of the enemy
By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent
Haaretz, Novermber 26, 2004
It is the language of contraction, the arcane, at first blush innocuous jibberish that masks for a moment a terrible reality.
Only at first do the words sound foreign. Later they become indispensible.
The following is the second part of an evolving "Dictionary of the Intifada." They are words of treachery, terrorism, obfuscation, hatred.
The stuff of daily life.
GEDER HA'BITACHON
Literally The Security Fence
Feared, stalled, and re-routed by the right for its possible implications regarding an eventual border between Israel and a Palestinian state in the West Bank.
Condemned by Yasser Arafat and others as the "Apartheid Wall" and as a war crime.
Although still far from complete, the barrier - which includes fencing, razor wire, trenches, electronic devices and stretches of high concrete wall - is credited with reducing suicide bombings in Israel by more than 80 percent.
It runs inside of the Green Line, the pre-1967 West Bank border, cutting into the West Bank at a number of points to encompass settlements.
HUDNA
From the Arabic for a temporary truce, or a tactical cease-fire
A hudna ecompassing militant Islamic and other armed Palestinian groups was the initial objective of Mahmoud Abbas when he became the first Palestinian Authority prime minister last year.
But the cease-fire, aimed at paving the way to a return to contacts, soon broke down in the wake of Palestinian terror attacks and Israeli military operations.
In ironic Israeli slang, a fleeting, cosmetic or unachievable moment of peace, as in between two small brothers, close in age, who scratch, kick and curse each other at nearly all waking moments.
MASHTOP
Contraction of M'shatef Peula, literally, One who Cooperates
Commonly, Collaborator, an Arab hired or forced to work in the service of Israeli security authorities.
In the severity of Israeli political and ideological slang, mashtop, always pejorative, falls just short of, and may be used interchangeably with, the term boged, or traitor.
Recently, it has been used by far-rightists to describe Yonatan Bassi, a religious Israeli Jew and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's choice to head the government agency handling the implementation of the disengagement plan.
M'AVTEACH
Body Guard or Security Guard
A function which has expanded dramatically in scope as a result of suicide bombings in buses, and in cafes and other public places.
Prior to the Intifada, professional security guards were found primarily in Ben-Gurion airport, with parents often serving as volunteer guards at school entrances, and retirees holding down posts in movie theaters.
In the wake of scores of deadly bombings in the first years of the Intifada, demand for guards soared.
Professional guards now stand at the entrances of supermarkets, shopping malls, libraries, buses, nightclubs, restaurants, meeting halls, sports stadiums and arenas, synagogues and a host of other venues.
Some urban cafes now routinely ask their patrons for a shekel surcharge to cover security costs.
MERCHAV HA'TEFER
Literally, the Seam Space. In practice, The Green Line
A term created in part to ease the acceptance of the West Bank barrier [See Geder Habitachon, above].
Describes the vulnerable area on both sides of the 1967 border and efforts to block bombers from crossing it into Israel.
MUQATA
The partially bombed-out Ramallah headquarters compound to which Israel kept Yasser Arafat confined for years, and where he was later buried.
In Israeli slang, any of a number of cramped, poorly ventilated, vaguely crumbling offices, apartments, army barracks, and teen's rooms.
QASSAM
An unguided steel rocket made and used by Hamas gunners in Gaza to shell the Negev border city of Sderot and settlements in the Strip.
Often fired in conjunction with Patzmarim, or mortar shells.
Named for the Hamas armed wing, and therefore for Izz a-Din al-Qassam, a Syrian-born militant who attacked Jewish villages in pre-State Palestine, killed by the British in 1935.
RAV-MERATZ'CHIM
Literally, head of a band of heinous murderers. In Israeli usage, generally synonymous with terrorist chieftain.
Often used by Israelis to describe the late Yasser Arafat, Hamas bomb mastermind Yahya Ayyash, and the militant Islamic groups founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
SARBANIM
Usually translated as Refuseniks
Originally used to describe the hundreds of Israelis who refused to serve in the territories at the outset of the Intifada - before suicide bombings effectively stemmed the tide of refusal - as well as the handful who refused all service.
Later also used to describe settlers and rightists who have declared a parallel intention to refuse orders to evacuate outposts and settlements.
SHAHEED
Arabic, literally Holy Martyr. Commonly understood by Israelis to denote a suicide bomber
For Muslims, the term is applied to all Palestinian fatalities of the Intifada, including civilians caught in IDF sights or in crossfire, as well as bombers and gunmen who die in clashes with Israeli forces.
Early in the Intifada, it was Yasser Arafat's exhortation that a "million martyrs" would march on Jerusalem that convinced large sectors of the Israeli public that the then-PA chairman had aligned himself with armed Palestinian groups engaged in attacking Israelis.
