عناوين الصحف - جو بايدن في اسرائيل

We have a new feature on the blog: عناوين الصحف, "newspaper headlines". عناوين ('anaween) is the plural of عنوان ('unwaan) meaning title or address.

Reading entire Arabic news articles can be time-consuming for the student of Arabic. But reading the news in Arabic is also a great way to learn and practice in real world context!

!يلا بنا ونحن نبدأ

Let's start with a headline from Radio Sawa. Radio Sawa headlines are written in very clear and concise Arabic!

جو بايدن وبان كي مون يدينان قرار حكومة إسرائيل بناء وحدات سكنية في القدس الشرقية

أدان نائب الرئيس الأميركي جو بايدن قرار الحكومة الإسرائيلية بناء ألف وستمئة وحدة سكنية جديدة في القدس الشرقية، وقال إن توقيت ومضمون الإعلان الذي تزامن تحديدا مع استئناف المفاوضات غير المباشرة هو نوع من الخطوة التي تقوّض الثقة التي نحتاج إليها الآن

translation:

Joe Biden and Ban Ki Moon condemn the decision of the Israeli government to build housing units in East Jerusalem.

The American Vice President, Joe Biden, condemned the decision of the Israeli government to build 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, and said that the timing and content of the announcement, which coincided exactly with the resumption of indirect negotiations, is a type of step that undermines the trust that we need at the present time.

Read the whole article at Radio Sawa.

Relevant vocabulary:

أدان = to condemn (form IV verb) adaan, yudeen, al-idaana
وحدات ج وحدة = unit, waHda pl. waHadaat
سكني = residential, housing (adj.), sakani
توقيت = timing, tawqeet
مضمون = content, meaning (of a letter, etc), maDmoun
تزامن = to coincide, be simultaneous (form VI verb) tazaaman, yatazaaman, al-tazaamun
-متزامن = simultaneous, contemporaneous, coincident, mutazaamin
تحديدا = exactly, precisely, taHdeedan. تحديد = demarcation, limitation, restriction. However, تحديداand على التحديد carry the meaning of precisely, exactly, or specifically. A similar meaning to بالضبط and بالدقة
استأنف = to resume, restart (form X verb) ista'nafa, yasta'nif, al-isti'naaf
مفاوضات غير مباشرة = indirect negotiations. Negotiations = المفاوضات mufaawaDaat. Indirect = غير مباشر ghayr mubaashir
قوّض = to undermine, smash, break off (form II verb) qawwaDa, yuqawwiD, al-taqweeD
ثقة = trust, confidence, thiqa, from the root verb وثق wathiqa, yathiq, al-thiqa


What do you think? Hopeful the Obama administration can facillitate a peace settlement? Worried the Obama administration is meddling in an intractible conflict?