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Education ministry labels creation of israel catastrophe { July 22 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/world/middleeast/22cnd-mideast.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/world/middleeast/22cnd-mideast.html
July 22, 2007
Israeli Text for Arabs Refers to 1948 ‘Catastrophe’
By ISABEL KERSHNER
JERUSALEM, July 22 — Israel’s Education Ministry announced Sunday that it had approved a textbook for use in the state’s Arab schools that for the first time described Israel’s 1948 war of independence as a “catastrophe” for the Arab population.
The action, addressing longstanding concerns of the country’s Arab population, immediately prompted criticism from right-wing Jewish politicians and calls for the education minister’s dismissal.
The Arabic version of a new book for a third-grade course on homeland, society and citizenship states that “some of the Palestinians fled and some were expelled following the War of Independence” and that “many Arab-owned lands were confiscated,” said an Education Ministry official, Dalia Fenig. It refers to the establishment of Israel as a catastrophe for the Palestinians.
The book also reflects the Jewish version of the establishment of the state, as have previous books for the Arab curriculum, including the fact that the Arab parties rejected the 1947 United Nations partition plan for Palestine while the Jews were willing to accept it. About 700,000 Arabs who lived in what is now Israel left during 1948 and 1949. About 20 percent of Israel’s current population of just over seven million are Arabs.
“Pedagogically, it is not right to hide facts and ignore Arab sensitivities if we want to live together and build something in common,” said Ms. Fenig, who is the national supervisor of homeland, society and citizenship studies.
The education minister, Yuli Tamir, of the left-leaning Labor Party, told Israel Radio that there were two populations in Israel, Jewish and Arab, and that “the Arab public deserves to be allowed to express its feelings.”
The decision drew praise from Arab members of the Israeli Parliament but raised the hackles of some Jewish politicians. The strategic affairs minister, Avigdor Lieberman, of the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu Party, condemned the curriculum change on Army Radio, calling it a result of “the masochism and defeatism of the Israeli left.”
Zevulun Orlev, chairman of the rightist National Religious Party and a member of Parliament, called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to fire Ms. Tamir, saying her decision was “anti-Zionist and goes against the very existence of Israel as a Jewish state.”
Ms. Fenig said the curriculum change resulted from purely pedagogic considerations of professionals in the field of education. The decision to include the Palestinian perspective in the study program for Arab pupils was made in 2002, she said, but it took time to develop the new course materials.
Most Arab and Jewish children study separately, in Arabic or Hebrew-language schools. Some Hebrew textbooks have over the years come to broach once-taboo subjects surrounding the establishment of the state, and the curriculum for Arab schools has also been slowly changing to take Arabic culture more into account.
But the Hebrew version of the third-grade book does not include the Palestinian version of the events of 1948. Ms. Fenig said that while the Arabic translation was adjusted to address Arab sensitivities and culture, Jewish third graders were considered too young to cope with the conflicting narratives.
The debate on Sunday took place as clashes between Israelis and Palestinians continued.
Four Palestinian militants were killed in Gaza by Israeli forces in two clashes. Two Hamas militants were shot dead early on Sunday morning by troops who were carrying out searches in northern Gaza, close to the border fence, army officials said. The men were armed and threw a grenade at the troops, an army spokesman said. The military wing of Hamas said that the men were preparing to ambush an Israeli tank.
Later on Sunday, three rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. One fell outside a college near the Israeli border town of Sderot, lightly wounding one woman, and another fell in the grounds of a school in the town. The third landed in an open area, causing no damage, army officials said.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.
In response, the Israeli Air Force attacked a rocket-launching cell, the Israeli military said. At least two Islamic Jihad members were killed, according to news reports citing medical officials in Gaza.
At the Israeli weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Mr. Olmert said he opposed an Israeli court ruling calling for all school buildings in Sderot to be fortified against rocket fire by the beginning of the new school year in September. “Investment in the tools that will bring victory is more important than investment in protective measures,” Mr. Olmert said.
Deepening the constitutional crisis in the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian caretaker government of Salam Fayyad on Sunday failed for the second time to win a vote of confidence from the Palestinian Legislative Council, or the parliament, for lack of a quorum.
Mr. Fayyad heads a government made up mostly of independents, appointed by President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, which governs from the West Bank. Hamas, which violently took over Gaza last month, does not recognize the government’s legitimacy.
Only 33 of the 132 members of the parliament turned up for the session. About 45 members, most from Hamas, are currently detained in Israeli prisons. Other Hamas members and members from its rival Fatah have both boycotted sessions in recent weeks, each for their own reasons.
A 28-year-old Sudanese woman from Darfur was shot dead by the Egyptian police on Sunday while trying to cross the Egyptian border into Israel, Agence France-Presse reported. The woman was trying to cross illegally with a group of 27 other migrants from various African countries, the report said, citing Egyptian officials.
According to United Nations figures, about 1,200 Sudanese refugees are currently in Israel, including 300 from Darfur. Israel has said that most are economic refugees and will be returned to Egypt, where they had been previously, though some have complained about conditions there.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
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