Israëlische onderwijsminister keurt vermelding Nakba in schoolboeken goed

Een moedige beslissing van de minister van onderwijs om ook ruimte te geven aan de Arabische versie van de geschiedenis in Israëlische schoolboeken. Volgens rechts speelt men hiermee de vijanden van Israël in de kaart, en leren Israëlische Arabieren dat de strijd tegen Israël dus gerechtvaardigd is. De harde kritiek ter rechterzijde is begrijpelijk, maar niet terecht.

 

Het mag aantrekkelijk lijken de kinderen alleen de Zionistische versie te leren, zij worden buiten de schoolklassen geconfronteerd met velen die er anders over denken en hebben een betere basis als ze ook de Arabische versie kennen. Bovendien is het belangrijk dat zij feit en mythe kunnen onderscheiden. Ja, er zijn veel Arabieren verdreven in 1948; nee, de Zionistische beweging was niet uit op het etnisch zuiveren van Palestina. De Zionisten wilden een Joodse staat in Palestina, dat zij als hun historische thuisland zagen, maar geen 'Joods exclusivistische staat', en ook geen religieuze staat.

 

Op het moment dat de schoolboeken dergelijke Arabische mythes als even waar als de Zionistische versie neerzetten is er natuurlijk wel een probleem. De legitimiteit van Israëls bestaan moet buiten kijf staan, maar kinderen moeten wel weten wie daar met welke argumenten tegen waren.

 

Ratna

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Education Ministry okays new textbook featuring Nakba

Ministry gives go-ahead for use of book acknowledging Nakba in Arab schools. 'Book offers Arab pupils a balanced picture' says Minister Yuli Tamir
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3428223,00.html

Moran Zelikovich Published:  07.22.07, 10:53 / Israel News

The Education Ministry has authorized Arab schools to use a history book featuring the establishing of the State of Israel as a disastrous to the Palestinians, Israel radio published Sunday.

The third-grade book, Living together in Israel, states that some Arab residents were driven out of their homes and became refugees and that Israel confiscated many of their lands.

Controversy
The book's authors made it a point to state that it was the Arabs that refused the United Nations offer to divide the land between the Palestinian and the Jews (UN resolution 181), while the Jews accepted it.

"When the war ended, the Jews prevailed and Israel and its neighbors signed a truce. the Arabs call the war the 'Nakba', meaning the war of disaster and destruction. The Jews call it the War of Independence."

A balanced picture
Education Minister Yuli Tamir told Ynet Sunday 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," said Tamir.

"The book offers the Arab pupils a balanced picture, so that they may put what they exposed to in their home environment in the proper context," she added.

The national board of education geography supervisor, Dalia Pening, said the new curriculum is meant to be uniform for all school sectors.

"This program features the term 'Nakba'. When the Hebrew book was translated, we need to make some cultural adjustments," she said. "Writing a version detached from reality is counterproductive to our goal of creating a joint sense of relevance."

Tamir's decision sparked harsh criticism: National Religious Party Chairman MK 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."

Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman slammed Tamir's decision as well "Tamir is like Avraham Burg. She 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 MK Limor Livnat (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," said Livnat.

This isn't the first time Tamir authorized a controversial book be added to the schools curriculum. In December 2006 she ordered new textbooks featuring the Green Line - Israel's borders prior to the Six Day War - be distributed

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Orlev: Fire Tamir over Arab text book approval
By JPOST.COM STAFF
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1184766030067&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Zevulun Orlev (NU/NRP) called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to fire Education Minister Yuli Tamir for approving text books that include the Arab version of the 1948 war - namely, that it was a "catastrophe" for the Palestinians.

Orlev said that allowing the Palestinian version of events into school books was erasing Jewish history and granting the Arabs legitimacy in refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.