Palestinian academic calls for preservation of Arab sites' names

Israel has been introducing Jewish names to historical sites and if nothing is done by the Palestine government now, the authentic Arab names of holy and historical sites in Palestine might be totally forgotten, warned a senior Palestinian academic.

Hassan Khater, head of the Palestinian Scientific Council (PSC), said that Israel has recently started excavation works in the Naqab desert in the south using only Hebrew names for those sites it found. "Without the help of the local Arab residents of the Naqab desert, we won't be able to determine what are the Arab names of those sites," he said.

Khater said the PSC has prepared a plan to survey all of Palestine to determine all the historical sites in the country and their Arab names as well as to prepare for naming new sites that might be discovered in this campaign.