RAMALLAH, 7 November 2007 — The Israeli Knesset’s (parliament) Education Committee voted against Education Minister Yuli Tamir’s proposal to include the Palestinian version of the 1948 War — or “Nakba” (catastrophe), as it is called in the Arab world, in the curriculum of Arab schools inside the Jewish state. The committee voted six to one against (Arab member of Knesset Muhammad Barakeh).
“The Education Committee rejects presenting two perspectives in textbooks of the events of the War of Independence (1948 War) and the creation of the (Israeli) state and the reasons for the creation of the (Palestinian) refugee problem,” the committee said in a statement released yesterday.
“The inclusion in the curriculum that the Arabs view the creation of the state as a disaster is serious and leads to a process of alienation of the Arab community from the state and damages coexistence.”
Tamir, and a founder of the left-wing Peace Now organization, last July authorized Arab schools to use a history book meant for nine-year-old children saying that “The Arab public deserves to be allowed to express its feelings.”
The textbook referred to the events of 1948 as “Nakba,” saying Arab citizens were expelled from their homes and became refugees after their lands were confiscated by Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli police posed as a TV news crew to trap a onetime Palestinian informer for Israel, provoking an outcry from critics who said the sting threatened to put the lives of news people at risk.
Police said the target of the operation was Nadim Injaz, a Palestinian man who had been wanted for making unspecified threats.
Last year, Injaz burst into the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, claimed to have a gun, demanded political asylum and threatened suicide. Although the weapon turned out to be plastic, Injaz was convicted on charges related to the embassy storming and spent several months in prison before being released a few weeks ago.
