Israel bans mention of Palestinian 'nakba' from textbooks

[Donald Ian Rankin]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1102099.html

Israel will remove from school textbooks an Arabic term that describes its creation in 1948 as a "catastrophe", the Education Ministry said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said when he was opposition leader two years ago the word "nakba" in Israeli Arab schools was tantamount to spreading propaganda against Israel.

The term, which is not part of the curriculum in schools in Jewish communities, was introduced into a book for use in Arab schools in 2007 when the Education Ministry was run by Yuli Tamir of the center-left Labor party.

The book was aimed at children, aged 8 and 9.

Arab citizens make up about a fifth of Israel's population of seven million. The term nakba is used by Palestinians to describe the founding of Israel in a war when some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes.

"After studying the matter with education experts it was decided that the term nakba should be removed. It is inconceivable that in Israel we would talk about the establishment of the state as a catastrophe," said Yisrael Twito, a spokesman for Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar.

A passage in the textbook, describing the 1948 Middle East war at the time of Israel's creation, said: "The Arabs call the war the nakba - a war of catastrophe, loss and humiliation - and the Jews call it the Independence War."

Jafar Farrah, director of Mossawa, an Israeli-Arab advocacy group, said the decision to remove the term only "complicated the conflict". He called it an attempt to distort the truth and seek confrontation with the country's Arab population.

[Liberation Angel]

1. History is written by the victors---oh, but wait --- the war isn't over

stuff like this prolongs and deepens war.

By doing this the Israeli government is fomenting and promoting ignorance.

I get it, but I think it makes thing worse.

i think the statement is honest and nonpartisan. To acknowledge the pain and the perspective of the Arabs is to help relieve it in the long run.
Denying it makes the suffering worse and makes the likleihood of violence greater.

Nice move, Natanyahu, the Bush go between on Iran weapons for Hostages deal (look that up - he brokered arms to the Ayatollah for Bush to get money for an ilegal contra war)

[shaayecanaan]

2. Australian Aborigines refer to Australia Day as "Invasion Day"...

and there are numerous commemorative events to counter the otherwise celebratory tone of the day. I am sure that there are equivalent events for Native Americans and other dispossessed people.

The reaction is understandable, given that in fact Australia Day did indeed mark the occasion upon which Aboriginal people began to be murdered and stripped of their land.

There seems to be a creeping insistence that Palestinians should not only recognise the Israeli state as a political reality and in the interests of peace, but that they should also recognise that the establishment of Israel on the ruins of Palestine was in fact a legitimate and rightful act.

It is something that we would certainly not expect other indigenous people to do, and again it marks the double standard that often applies to the Palestinians.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

6. Israel should make Nakba day a national day of shame and attonement.

In the same way that Australia has instituted a national "Sorry Day".

[Ken Burch]

3. Somewhere, Kit Carson is smiling.

Manifest Destiny lives!

[azurnoir]

4. Many Native Americans fast on Thanksgiving

I found an old DU thread about that

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x388102#388108

[varelse]

5. "The bride is beautiful but she is married to another man"

Can we still say that?