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Commentary: Israel approves textbook featuring Nakba
posted Thursday, 2 August 2007
via metimes.com :
August 1, 2007
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Israeli education ministry recently authorized Arab schools inside the Jewish state to use a history book that includes the Palestinian side of the 1948 War - or Nakba (Catastrophe), as it is called in the Arab world. Speaking on Israeli radio, education minister Yuli Tamir noted: "The Arab public deserves to be allowed to express its feelings."
In an unprecedented move, the education ministry approved a textbook for third-graders referring to the events of 1948 as the "Nakba," stating that Arab citizens were expelled from their homes and became refugees after their lands were confiscated by Israel. The book also emphasizes that Arabs rejected United Nations Resolution 181 calling for the division of the territory between Arabs and Jews, which, it says, the Jews were prepared to accept.
Tamir said that the ministry's decision was "part of a new curriculum, which has been in the works for a number of years, and includes mentioning the Nakba.
"The book underwent an evaluation by a professional viewing board and was sent to dozens of readers prior to being approved for distribution," she added, going on to explain: "The book offers ... Arab pupils a balanced picture, so that they may put what they [are] exposed to in their home environment in the proper context."
Tamir announced the education ministry's move to the Israeli Knesset July 22.
Arab factions welcomed the initiative and called for the publication of the same version in Jewish school texts. "The majority must not be allowed to exist inside its own narrative bubble, and deny the existence of other views," said Ahmed Tibi. "Jewish students also deserve to know the truth," he added.
Hana Sawid hailed the move as a positive step toward boosting the Arab community's faith in the education system. He called on Tamir to include classical Arabic poetry in the Jewish school curriculum.
However, Tamir's decision sparked harsh Israeli criticism: chairman of the right-wing National Religious Party Zevulun Orlev called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to fire Tamir immediately, saying her decision was "anti-Zionist, and goes against the very existence of Israel as a Jewish state."
The chairman of Israel Beiteinu party and hawkish minster of strategic affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, slammed Tamir's decision as well: "Tamir expresses not only the post-Zionist spirit, but also political masochism. The political Left is constantly looking for ways to justify the other side, when we have nothing to apologize for."
Former education minister Limor Livnat of the opposition party Likud called the decision "miserable," adding that "once the Arab pupils are taught that the establishing of Israel was a disaster, they might infer that they should be fighting against us ... our very own educational system may be raising a fifth column."
This isn't the first time Tamir authorized the addition of a controversial book to school curriculum. In December 2006, she ordered new textbooks featuring the Green Line - the borders prior to the June 1967 War - to be distributed.
However, Yisrael Hasson of Israel Beiteinu contested that "trying to hide the Nakba is like trying to hide the sun with a curtain," referring to criticism of Lieberman. According to Hasson, refusing to acknowledge the Palestinian side of the story "greatly harms the credibility of our [Israel's] establishment."
Hasson explained that "every child in Umm Al Fahm [Arab city inside Israel] knows about the Nakba - he grew up with it from the day he was born, and he also knows that his country is ignoring it."
For this reason, said Hasson, he was not immediately rejecting Tamir's decision.
Mohammed Mar'I is a Writer for Arab News, the largest English-language newspaper in the Middle East. This commentary was first published in the July 23 issue of Arab News, and is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews). Acknowledgement to CGNews.
August 1, 2007
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Israeli education ministry recently authorized Arab schools inside the Jewish state to use a history book that includes the Palestinian side of the 1948 War - or Nakba (Catastrophe), as it is called in the Arab world. Speaking on Israeli radio, education minister Yuli Tamir noted: "The Arab public deserves to be allowed to express its feelings."
In an unprecedented move, the education ministry approved a textbook for third-graders referring to the events of 1948 as the "Nakba," stating that Arab citizens were expelled from their homes and became refugees after their lands were confiscated by Israel. The book also emphasizes that Arabs rejected United Nations Resolution 181 calling for the division of the territory between Arabs and Jews, which, it says, the Jews were prepared to accept.
Tamir said that the ministry's decision was "part of a new curriculum, which has been in the works for a number of years, and includes mentioning the Nakba.
"The book underwent an evaluation by a professional viewing board and was sent to dozens of readers prior to being approved for distribution," she added, going on to explain: "The book offers ... Arab pupils a balanced picture, so that they may put what they [are] exposed to in their home environment in the proper context."
Tamir announced the education ministry's move to the Israeli Knesset July 22.
Arab factions welcomed the initiative and called for the publication of the same version in Jewish school texts. "The majority must not be allowed to exist inside its own narrative bubble, and deny the existence of other views," said Ahmed Tibi. "Jewish students also deserve to know the truth," he added.
Hana Sawid hailed the move as a positive step toward boosting the Arab community's faith in the education system. He called on Tamir to include classical Arabic poetry in the Jewish school curriculum.
However, Tamir's decision sparked harsh Israeli criticism: chairman of the right-wing National Religious Party Zevulun Orlev called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to fire Tamir immediately, saying her decision was "anti-Zionist, and goes against the very existence of Israel as a Jewish state."
The chairman of Israel Beiteinu party and hawkish minster of strategic affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, slammed Tamir's decision as well: "Tamir expresses not only the post-Zionist spirit, but also political masochism. The political Left is constantly looking for ways to justify the other side, when we have nothing to apologize for."
Former education minister Limor Livnat of the opposition party Likud called the decision "miserable," adding that "once the Arab pupils are taught that the establishing of Israel was a disaster, they might infer that they should be fighting against us ... our very own educational system may be raising a fifth column."
This isn't the first time Tamir authorized the addition of a controversial book to school curriculum. In December 2006, she ordered new textbooks featuring the Green Line - the borders prior to the June 1967 War - to be distributed.
However, Yisrael Hasson of Israel Beiteinu contested that "trying to hide the Nakba is like trying to hide the sun with a curtain," referring to criticism of Lieberman. According to Hasson, refusing to acknowledge the Palestinian side of the story "greatly harms the credibility of our [Israel's] establishment."
Hasson explained that "every child in Umm Al Fahm [Arab city inside Israel] knows about the Nakba - he grew up with it from the day he was born, and he also knows that his country is ignoring it."
For this reason, said Hasson, he was not immediately rejecting Tamir's decision.
Mohammed Mar'I is a Writer for Arab News, the largest English-language newspaper in the Middle East. This commentary was first published in the July 23 issue of Arab News, and is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews). Acknowledgement to CGNews.
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