Israel’s Foreign Ministry has launched an Arabic language Web site to encourage dialogue among Israelis and Arabs. The website is being launched as part of the Ministry's efforts to increasingly expose different audiences in the Arab world to information about Israel, supplementing the sparseness of material espousing Israel’s point of view in Arabic and addressing Israel's Arab neighbors in their own language.
The site is called ‘Altawasul’, which means interconnection in Arabic, and “aims to reach out to, and increase dialogue with, the Arab world and to get our neighbors acquainted with Israeli culture, politics, economy and society," said Amir Weissbrod, who serves as spokesman for Israel’s Embassy in Jordan.
Weissbrod said the web site was the final result of 18 months of intensive work and would be run from the Israeli Embassy in Jordan for the next few months until the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem takes it over.
The site will consist of news on Israel’s politics, polls of Israeli public opinion, Arabic translations of articles from Israeli newspapers, as well as human interest articles relating to Israeli culture, society, and religion.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who officially launched the site in Jerusalem on Monday, said, "Although we are living in the information age, there is a lack of basic information about Israel in the Arab world. Following talks that I have conducted with Arab leaders, I have learned that there exists a great thirst for knowledge about Israel and its society - both democratic and complex. In the same vein, we are interested in including op-ed articles on the website by representatives in the Arab world so that we can hear the views of our neighbors."
According to a Foreign Ministry press release Israeli dailies Maariv and Yediot Aharonot were asked to provide articles for the website. Arutz-7’s ‘B’Sheva Weekly’ has not received any such request from the Ministry.
The site is called ‘Altawasul’, which means interconnection in Arabic, and “aims to reach out to, and increase dialogue with, the Arab world and to get our neighbors acquainted with Israeli culture, politics, economy and society," said Amir Weissbrod, who serves as spokesman for Israel’s Embassy in Jordan.
Weissbrod said the web site was the final result of 18 months of intensive work and would be run from the Israeli Embassy in Jordan for the next few months until the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem takes it over.
The site will consist of news on Israel’s politics, polls of Israeli public opinion, Arabic translations of articles from Israeli newspapers, as well as human interest articles relating to Israeli culture, society, and religion.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who officially launched the site in Jerusalem on Monday, said, "Although we are living in the information age, there is a lack of basic information about Israel in the Arab world. Following talks that I have conducted with Arab leaders, I have learned that there exists a great thirst for knowledge about Israel and its society - both democratic and complex. In the same vein, we are interested in including op-ed articles on the website by representatives in the Arab world so that we can hear the views of our neighbors."
According to a Foreign Ministry press release Israeli dailies Maariv and Yediot Aharonot were asked to provide articles for the website. Arutz-7’s ‘B’Sheva Weekly’ has not received any such request from the Ministry.