On March 24^th, the University President, Prof. Rami Hamdallah, met with the members of the National Translation Board in his office at the Old Campus which was formed as part of the recommendations of the Third International Translation Conference that was organized at An-Najah on October 2010.

In the meeting, Prof. Hamdallah welcomed the guests and stressed the University’s commitment to supporting the Board through providing a permanent headquarter for it at the University that is equipped with the necessary equipments. Prof. Hamdallah suggested adding more members to the Board who are experienced in other languages including Italian, Chinese and Spanish. He also called for accepting members from the different Palestinian institutions who have experience and skills in the field of translation.

The delegation consisted of Professor Yahya Jaber, Arabic language specialist from An-Najah National University, Dr. Ammar Al-Najjar, English language specialist from Al-Quds University, Dr. Muhammad Al-Allami, Russian language specialist from the Hebron University, Dr. Abdel Jabbar Al-Khalili, English language specialist from An-Najah University, Dr. Maha Atmeh, French language specialist from An-Najah University, Dr. Abdel Rahman Al-Aqra’, Bulgarian language specialist from An-Najah University, as well as Dr. Ghanem Miz’el, Hebrew language specialist from An-Najah University.

During the meeting a discussion was raised about the Board’s vision and philosophy, its authorities and statute, its specialties, source of funding, its administration and the committees with which it works. At the end of the meeting, the Board’s members expressed their thankfulness to Prof. Hamdallah for his support and for providing all the necessary facilitation to ensure the success of the Board.

The Board’s vision revolves around the idea of reinforcing and supporting translation to and from Arabic as well as promoting interaction and communication between Arabs and other nations. Also, its philosophy is based on mutual understanding through translation; its work helps bridge the gap between different nations and enables cultures to get to know each other much better.

The Board also aims to establish center to train translators in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education under the name (Alia Translation School). Furthermore, the Board aims to encourage and support translation research, establish a translation center that provides written and oral translation services and works as an authority that works on issues related to the field of translation. It also focuses on the importance of translation accuracy and follows-up on the new concepts and developments in the various fields of knowledge, art and science.

Among the Board’s goals is to promote translation in Palestine, enrich the Arab culture by translating different works and publications made by western people, translate the different applied and human sciences into Arabic which would be very useful to Arab students since it will enable them to stay connected to the world’s developments in the different fields of knowledge.

The Board will focus on organizing conference and workshops in the field of translation so as to develop the professional level of translators. It will also manage translation research work which would help in develop the translation sector in Palestine as well as establish a database that contains the various competent translators.

The Board seeks to build a website that would contain information about its vision, objectives and activities regarding translation, supervise translation work in Palestine, as well as carrying out documentation work of the various translation work and activities in the country.