The Languages of the ‘Disengagement’

Abstract

The article examines a text written by Moshe Arens, published by Ari Shavit in his book ‘Halukat Ha’aretz’ (the Division of the Land). This text, as all those comprised in the book, contemplates possible outcomes of the ‘Disengagement’ (August 2005).

Naturally, the multiple ideological and emotional standpoints towards the process are reflected in the language: the process, officially entitled ‘Disengagement’, was also labeled ‘withdrawal’, ‘deportation’, ‘evacuation’, and more. The region in which the process took place was called ‘the Gaza Strip’, ‘Gush Katif’ (the name of the actual location), ‘the Occupied Territories’, etc. and the people involved were named ‘settlers’, ‘extracted’, ‘displaced persons’ etc. In Bakhtin’s terms, this diversity is an expression of the presence of polyglots, of the multiplicity of languages. The article concentrates on polyphony, on the multiplicity of languages within a single person’s language.

Arens’s stance towards the process, as expressed in the text, is complex and consists of several points, differing ideologically, emotionally and linguistically, each seen as a separate and unique ‘voice’. Some of the voices act as external voices, opposed to Arens’s own voice, such as, for example, the Palestinian voice, which is extremely foreign to the text and, to some extent, the voice of ‘Eretz Israel Hashlema’ (The Greater Israel, literally, the Complete Land of Israel). In contrast, some of the voices blend with what Arens presents as his own voice, and therefore may be considered as additional internal levels of consciousness. These are the voices of the region’s residents and of the history of the Jewish nation.