Israel To Drop ' NAKBA' From Palesstinian Text Books

[musla1234]

Israel to drop 'Nakba' from Palestinian textbooks
Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:51:32 GMT

Israel decides to disallow the use of the Arabic term Nakba (Catastrophe) to describe the mass displacement of Palestinians from their homeland in 1948.

"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," Reuters quoted Yisrael Twito, a spokesman for Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar, as saying.

It is noteworthy that the term is not used in texts aimed at students in mainly Jewish areas, but appears only in texts taught in regions with a large number of Palestinians.

The text was introduced in 2007 when Yuli Tamir from the liberal Labor party was in charge of the Education Ministry.

Palestinians call May 15, 1948, when hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes and the Zionist movement declared the creation of Israel on the usurped land, al-Nakba or The Day of National Catastrophe.

More than 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their original villages and hometowns and compelled to live in refugee camps. This year marked the 61st anniversary of the Nakba.

MP/HGH