This one’s for Yonit, whose birthday coincides with this historic date.


Today marks sixty-four years since the UN General Assembly adopted the Partition Plan for Palestine.


The Hebrew translation for that loaded term is תָּכְנִית הַחֲלֻקָּה (tohkh-NEET hah-khah-loo-KAH). Employing סְמִיכוּת (seh-mee-KHOOT) or grammatical juxtaposition, that’s literally, the plan of the partition.


חלוקה means partition or division, but also distribution. Giving out (or distributing) prizes is חֲלֻקַּת פְּרָסִים (khah-loo-KAHT peh-rah-SEEM). The root of חלוקה is ח.ל.ק (kh.l.k), meaning part – both in the sense of participation (sharing) as well in the sense of to depart and political party (separation).


I discuss the term תכנית in another entry.


If you wish to know my views on the matter, I refer you to this article by Eli E. Hertz. If you wish to keep politics and Hebrew separate, don’t click the link.