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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Israeli textbooks to drop 'Nakba' | Israeli textbooks to drop 'Nakba' |
| (3 days later) | |
| Israel's education ministry is to drop from an Arabic language textbook a term describing the creation of the state of Israel as "the catastrophe". | Israel's education ministry is to drop from an Arabic language textbook a term describing the creation of the state of Israel as "the catastrophe". |
| The Arabic word "nakba" has been used with Israeli-Arab pupils since 2007. It does not appear in Hebrew textbooks. | The Arabic word "nakba" has been used with Israeli-Arab pupils since 2007. It does not appear in Hebrew textbooks. |
| Education Minister Gideon Saar said no state could be expected to portray its own foundation as a catastrophe. | Education Minister Gideon Saar said no state could be expected to portray its own foundation as a catastrophe. |
| Israeli Arab MP Hana Sweid called the move an attack on Palestinian identity and collective memory. | Israeli Arab MP Hana Sweid called the move an attack on Palestinian identity and collective memory. |
| The passage in question, which occurs in one textbook aimed at Arab children aged eight or nine, describes the 1948 war, which followed Israel's creation, in the following terms: "The Arabs call the war the Nakba - a war of catastrophe, loss and humiliation - and the Jews call it the Independence War." | |
| There is no reason that the official curriculum should present the establishment of the state of Israel as a 'catastrophe' Gideon SaarEducation Minister Israel concern at UN use of Nakba | There is no reason that the official curriculum should present the establishment of the state of Israel as a 'catastrophe' Gideon SaarEducation Minister Israel concern at UN use of Nakba |
| The sentence was introduced when Yuli Tamir of the centre-left Labour party was education minister. | The sentence was introduced when Yuli Tamir of the centre-left Labour party was education minister. |
| Ms Tamir's successor in Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing administration, Mr Saar, said: "There is no reason that the official curriculum of the state of Israel should present the establishment of the state as a 'holocaust' or 'catastrophe'." | Ms Tamir's successor in Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing administration, Mr Saar, said: "There is no reason that the official curriculum of the state of Israel should present the establishment of the state as a 'holocaust' or 'catastrophe'." |
| Mr Saar added that state education for children was not supposed entail the de-legitimising of that state. | Mr Saar added that state education for children was not supposed entail the de-legitimising of that state. |
| "Including the term in the official curriculum of the Arab sector was a mistake, a mistake that will not repeat itself in the new curriculum, which is currently being revised," he concluded. | "Including the term in the official curriculum of the Arab sector was a mistake, a mistake that will not repeat itself in the new curriculum, which is currently being revised," he concluded. |
| Correspondents say most Hebrew-language history books, especially when written for schoolchildren, focus on the heroism of Israeli forces in 1948 and gloss over the mass exile of Palestinians. | Correspondents say most Hebrew-language history books, especially when written for schoolchildren, focus on the heroism of Israeli forces in 1948 and gloss over the mass exile of Palestinians. |
| If it is mentioned at all it is attributed to a voluntary flight, rather than the deliberate expulsion which later revisionist historians claim to have uncovered from archive sources. | If it is mentioned at all it is attributed to a voluntary flight, rather than the deliberate expulsion which later revisionist historians claim to have uncovered from archive sources. |
| The term Nakba is usually applied to the loss suffered by millions of Palestinian refugees displaced by the 1948 war and subsequent conflicts; their fate remains a key factor in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. | The term Nakba is usually applied to the loss suffered by millions of Palestinian refugees displaced by the 1948 war and subsequent conflicts; their fate remains a key factor in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. |
| Jafar Farrah, director of Israeli-Arab advocacy group Moussawa, told the BBC that removing the word Nakba from textbooks would not stop Arabs from using it, but it would complicate relations. | Jafar Farrah, director of Israeli-Arab advocacy group Moussawa, told the BBC that removing the word Nakba from textbooks would not stop Arabs from using it, but it would complicate relations. |
| Far-right members of the Israeli government are pursuing legislation to make it illegal in Israel to commemorate the Nakba, as Palestinians and their supporters do every 15 May. | Far-right members of the Israeli government are pursuing legislation to make it illegal in Israel to commemorate the Nakba, as Palestinians and their supporters do every 15 May. |