May 12, 2011
by Nadine
Source: A Palestinian Dreamer
In 1948, when I lived in the British Mandate of Palestine, my world was so intact. We gathered at the sound of my uncle’s tubla, or drum, and sat around while the women danced. I was twelve years old at this time, and my little sister, Miriam, was seven years old. Our dad was killed resisting British colonization, so she often looked to me for answers that I simply could not give her. Our mom was the toughest woman I’ve ever met. Even in this time where women were oppressed, she made sure no man disrespected her. My small family lived in a big, tan house with green vines growing all over the place.
April came, and death came with it. Irgun Zvai Leumi, a Zionist gang, was led by Menachem Begin, who eventually became Prime Minister of Israel, to attack the District of Jerusalem’s Deir Yassin. This event swung like a golf club hitting every Arab country in the region right in the abdomen. Everyone who didn’t know there was such thing as Deir Yassin found out on April 9th, 1948. The gangs shot at anything or anyone that moved.
The air was stiff when we found out what happened. We were mortified. Mortified is an understatement; we were traumatized. We were exhausted at that point. The men in my village ordered the women and children to leave immediately; they were planning to act as a resistance, if necessary, to defend the District of al-Ramla. For the first time ever, the women didn’t argue.
Miriam and I were terrified. I went into my home and said a few prayers in hopes that God would help us. I locked the door and put the key in my pocket. I kept that key with me everywhere I went expecting to go back home any minute.
When we arrived in Betunia, we waited for news of when we could return to Daniel, or news of relatives that died. One day we got news that my aunt had been shot in the hip for protecting her husband. A gang member knocked on her door and asked her where her husband was. She lied and said that he died so they wouldn’t kill him. Just as she said that, my uncle came up behind her, and the gangbanger shot him to death.
The war ended May 14, 1948, a month and three days after the Deir Yassin Massacre, the Jews of Europe won the war and declared a state on the same day. They made a religious claim to our land and carried it out through violence. They founded a country through the blood of innocents.
Life moves on. There would always be a void in my heart. We moved on to the refugee camps. I remember when Golda Meir told the Sunday Times: “There is no such thing as a Palestinian people… It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn’t exist.” She just denied everything. I lined up all my kids and told them to never forget their Palestinian identity. My family was there for hundreds of years. Golda Meir’s was not.
Out of all the losses I have ever endured, losing Palestine was the worst. People come and go, but your country should always be there for you. When you lose your country, you feel cheated out of your way of life, and your heart builds sadness. It builds a big, dark hole of sadness. My grandchild, Nadine, kept asking me why I never smiled and why I never seem impressed by anything. I think she eventually figured out why.
Rest in Peace Abraham Badr. July 30th, 2007. When my grandfather died, he gave me the best gift ever. He transferred his unconditional love and loyalty for Palestine to me.
My uncle took his children to Daniel in the summer of 2009. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the pictures of my grandpa’s home! He always said how beautiful it was, but beautiful just didn’t do any justice. No word can describe the green vines growing around the house, which was the color of the Sahara desert. If heaven doesn’t look like this house, then there should definitely be some revisions. The picture my uncle brought home explained why my grandpa moaned on his deathbed, “Take me home! Please! Take me home!” He only calmed down when his nurse Danielle was with him. He loved her name, considering it was the name of his beloved village. I stared at the picture for about twenty minutes. I started to smell the aroma of awama, sweet dumplings that my grandpa loved. There was a light in this picture, a calming and serene light that gave me a sense of comfort.
700,000 Palestinians were driven out of Palestine during the Nakba, or catastrophe. Israel has made a law banning the remembrance of the Nakba. Millions of Palestinians remain in refugee camps to this day. On May 15, 2011 Palestinians will demand their right of return. The people of Lebanon, Syria and Egypt will march alongside the Palestinians.
*This is a story through the eyes of my grandfather, written by me*
Showing posts with label Nakba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nakba. Show all posts
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
For Palestinians, memory matters. It provides a blueprint for their future
Posted by George Bisharat on May 15, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007 - San Francisco Chronicle
Why do some people have the power to remember, while others are asked to forget? That question is especially poignant at this time of year, as we move from Holocaust Remembrance day in early spring to Monday's anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence on May 14, 1948.
In the months surrounding that date, Jewish forces expelled, or intimidated into flight, an estimated 750,000 Palestinians. A living, breathing, society that had existed in Palestine for centuries was smashed and fragmented, and a new society built on its ruins.
Few Palestinian families lack a personal narrative of loss from that period -- an uncle killed, or a branch of the family that fled north while the others fled east, never to be reunited, or homes, offices, orchards and other property seized. Ever since, Palestinians worldwide have commemorated May 15 as Nakba (Catastrophe) Day.
No ethical person would admonish Jews to "forget the Holocaust." Indeed, recent decades have witnessed victims of that terrible era not only remembering, but also regaining paintings and financial assets seized by the Nazis -- and justifiably so.
Other victims of mass wrongs -- interned Japanese Americans, enslaved African Americans, and Armenians subjected to a genocide that may have later convinced Hitler of the feasibility of mass killings -- receive at least respectful consideration of their cases, even while responses to their claims have differed.
Yet in dialogues with Israelis, and some Americans, Palestinians are repeatedly admonished to "forget the past," that looking back is "not constructive" and "doesn't get us closer to a solution." Ironically, Palestinians live the consequences of the past every day -- whether as exiles from their homeland, or as members of an oppressed minority within Israel, or as subjects of a brutal and violent military occupation.
In the West we are amply reminded of the suffering of Jewish people in World War II. Our newspaper featured several stories on local survivors of the Nazi holocaust around Holocaust Remembrance Day (an Israeli national holiday that is widely observed in the United States). My daughter has read at least one book on the Nazi holocaust every year since middle school. Last year, in ninth grade English literature alone, she read three. But we seldom confront the impact of Israel's policies on Palestinians.
It is the "security of the Jewish people" that has rationalized Israel's takeover of Palestinian lands, both in the past in Israel, and more recently in the occupied West Bank. There, most Palestinian children negotiate one of the 500 Israeli checkpoints and other barriers to movement just to reach school each day. Meanwhile, Israel's program of colonization of the West Bank grinds ahead relentlessly, implanting ever more Israeli settlers who must be "protected" from those Palestinians not reconciled to the theft of their homes and fields. What Palestinians are really being commanded is not just to forget their past, but instead to forget their future, too. That they will never do.
The primacy of Jewish security over rights of Palestinians -- to property, education, health care, a chance to make a living, and, also to security -- is seldom challenged.
Unfortunately, remembering the Nazi Holocaust -- something morally incumbent on all of us -- has seemingly become entangled with, and even an instrument of, the amnesia some would force on Palestinians. Israel is enveloped in an aura of ethical propriety that makes it unseemly, even "anti-Semitic" to question its denial of Palestinian rights.
As Israeli journalist Amira Hass recently observed: "Turning the Holocaust into a political asset serves Israel primarily in its fight against the Palestinians. When the Holocaust is on one side of the scale, along with the guilty (and rightly so) conscience of the West, the dispossession of the Palestinian people from their homeland in 1948 is minimized and blurred."
What this demonstrates is that memory is not just an idle capacity. Rather, who can remember, and who can be made to forget, is, fundamentally, an expression of power.
Equally importantly, however, memory can provide a blueprint for the future -- a vision of a solution to seek, or an outcome to avoid. My Palestinian father grew up in Jerusalem before Israel was founded and the Palestinians expelled, when Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in peace and mutual respect. Recalling that past provides a vision for an alternative future -- one involving equal rights and tolerance, rather than the domination of one ethno-religious group over others.
Thus, what Palestinians are really being commanded is not just to forget their past, but instead to forget their future, too. That they will never do.
*George Bisharat is professor of law at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He writes frequently about the Middle East.
Source; www.palestineremembered
Sunday, May 13, 2007 - San Francisco Chronicle
Why do some people have the power to remember, while others are asked to forget? That question is especially poignant at this time of year, as we move from Holocaust Remembrance day in early spring to Monday's anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence on May 14, 1948.
In the months surrounding that date, Jewish forces expelled, or intimidated into flight, an estimated 750,000 Palestinians. A living, breathing, society that had existed in Palestine for centuries was smashed and fragmented, and a new society built on its ruins.
Few Palestinian families lack a personal narrative of loss from that period -- an uncle killed, or a branch of the family that fled north while the others fled east, never to be reunited, or homes, offices, orchards and other property seized. Ever since, Palestinians worldwide have commemorated May 15 as Nakba (Catastrophe) Day.
No ethical person would admonish Jews to "forget the Holocaust." Indeed, recent decades have witnessed victims of that terrible era not only remembering, but also regaining paintings and financial assets seized by the Nazis -- and justifiably so.
Other victims of mass wrongs -- interned Japanese Americans, enslaved African Americans, and Armenians subjected to a genocide that may have later convinced Hitler of the feasibility of mass killings -- receive at least respectful consideration of their cases, even while responses to their claims have differed.
Yet in dialogues with Israelis, and some Americans, Palestinians are repeatedly admonished to "forget the past," that looking back is "not constructive" and "doesn't get us closer to a solution." Ironically, Palestinians live the consequences of the past every day -- whether as exiles from their homeland, or as members of an oppressed minority within Israel, or as subjects of a brutal and violent military occupation.
In the West we are amply reminded of the suffering of Jewish people in World War II. Our newspaper featured several stories on local survivors of the Nazi holocaust around Holocaust Remembrance Day (an Israeli national holiday that is widely observed in the United States). My daughter has read at least one book on the Nazi holocaust every year since middle school. Last year, in ninth grade English literature alone, she read three. But we seldom confront the impact of Israel's policies on Palestinians.
It is the "security of the Jewish people" that has rationalized Israel's takeover of Palestinian lands, both in the past in Israel, and more recently in the occupied West Bank. There, most Palestinian children negotiate one of the 500 Israeli checkpoints and other barriers to movement just to reach school each day. Meanwhile, Israel's program of colonization of the West Bank grinds ahead relentlessly, implanting ever more Israeli settlers who must be "protected" from those Palestinians not reconciled to the theft of their homes and fields. What Palestinians are really being commanded is not just to forget their past, but instead to forget their future, too. That they will never do.
The primacy of Jewish security over rights of Palestinians -- to property, education, health care, a chance to make a living, and, also to security -- is seldom challenged.
Unfortunately, remembering the Nazi Holocaust -- something morally incumbent on all of us -- has seemingly become entangled with, and even an instrument of, the amnesia some would force on Palestinians. Israel is enveloped in an aura of ethical propriety that makes it unseemly, even "anti-Semitic" to question its denial of Palestinian rights.
As Israeli journalist Amira Hass recently observed: "Turning the Holocaust into a political asset serves Israel primarily in its fight against the Palestinians. When the Holocaust is on one side of the scale, along with the guilty (and rightly so) conscience of the West, the dispossession of the Palestinian people from their homeland in 1948 is minimized and blurred."
What this demonstrates is that memory is not just an idle capacity. Rather, who can remember, and who can be made to forget, is, fundamentally, an expression of power.
Equally importantly, however, memory can provide a blueprint for the future -- a vision of a solution to seek, or an outcome to avoid. My Palestinian father grew up in Jerusalem before Israel was founded and the Palestinians expelled, when Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in peace and mutual respect. Recalling that past provides a vision for an alternative future -- one involving equal rights and tolerance, rather than the domination of one ethno-religious group over others.
Thus, what Palestinians are really being commanded is not just to forget their past, but instead to forget their future, too. That they will never do.
*George Bisharat is professor of law at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He writes frequently about the Middle East.
Source; www.palestineremembered
Violence breaks out as protesters attempt to move into Israel
May 15, 2011
By Sheera Frenkel
JERUSALEM — Violence erupted along three of Israel's land borders Sunday, as Palestinian solidarity protesters attempted to infiltrate Israeli territory.
More than a dozen people were killed when Israeli military forces opened fire on demonstrators who crossed into Israel. Hundreds more were injured in clashes that were condemned by Arab governments across the region.
Palestinians marking the Naqba — or catastrophe — of the establishment of the State of Israel were given unprecedented support this year by tens of thousands of solidarity protesters across the Arab world.
Israeli troops said they defensively opened fire against protesters who marched on Israel's borders from Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
The Lebanese army said that 10 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when Israeli forces shot at rock-throwing protesters. A spokesman for the Israeli military said that Lebanon's army also opened fire in an attempt to keep protesters away from the border.
Along the Syrian border, thousands of protesters stormed the fence and hundreds burst through, pelting Israeli soldiers with stones. Syrian officials said that four people were killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire at the crowd.
In Gaza, medics reported that 82 protesters were wounded by Israeli gunfire as they attempted to approach the fence that separates the coastal strip from southern Israel.
Israeli officials blamed all of the incidents on "provocation" inspired by Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Arab States were attempting to distract from their own internal problems by drawing attention to the Palestinian nationalist cause.
"We hope the calm and quiet will quickly return. But let nobody be misled: we are determined to defend our borders and sovereignty," Netanyahu added.
Speaking at a televised address to mark Naqba day, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that those killed were martyrs to the Palestinian cause.
"Their precious blood will not be wasted. It was spilt for the sake of our nation's freedom," Abbas said.
In the wake of the "Arab Spring" revolutions that have swept across the region, the plight of Palestinians has become a popular cause. As protesters in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan chanted for democratic reforms and elections, side-protests were held for Palestinian statehood.
In Tunis earlier this month, a group of protesters held a demonstration in front of the cities national theater to highlight the issue.
"We have our freedom, now they deserve theirs," said Malek Amou, a 27-year-old blogger who was starting a Facebook page for solidarity protests with the Palestinians.
"Since the Arab Spring there is more solidarity across the Arab world completely. We all want to help each other until we are all free — all our Arab brothers," he said.
In Egypt, thousands turned up at solidarity Naqba protests and attempted to march towards Gaza until they were turned around by the Egyptian military.
Hima Nawoub, a 24-year-old student in Cairo, said that the Palestinian cause had become "central" to young Egyptians since the revolution.
"Suddenly everyone is talking about the Palestinians. I think we are all inspired by our revolution. It has been too long for them under occupation. We want them to have revolution too," she said.
Despite the support from their Arab neighbors, Palestinians remain reluctant to take to the streets en masse.
Hamzi Musla, a 46-year-old shopkeeper in Ramallah said that there were still too many internal problems within Palestinian society.
"First we must be a united force, then we can fight the Israeli occupation. We are currently many different people — not one united person," he said.
He added that his two teenage children were among the protesters in Ramallah.
"They are young and hopeful. I have seen too many disappointments already," he said.
Earlier this month, Palestinian officials announced they had reached a reconciliation agreement between the Fatah government that controls the West Bank, and the Hamas authority that has ruled Gaza since June 2007. While the details of reconciliation have remained unclear, the two sides have pledged to hold elections together.
A spokesman for the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Sami Abu Zuhri, called Sunday "a turning point in the Israeli-Arab conflict" that proved the Palestinian people had united and that Arabs were committed to ending Israeli occupation.
Source: McClatchy Newspapers
By Sheera Frenkel
JERUSALEM — Violence erupted along three of Israel's land borders Sunday, as Palestinian solidarity protesters attempted to infiltrate Israeli territory.
More than a dozen people were killed when Israeli military forces opened fire on demonstrators who crossed into Israel. Hundreds more were injured in clashes that were condemned by Arab governments across the region.
Palestinians marking the Naqba — or catastrophe — of the establishment of the State of Israel were given unprecedented support this year by tens of thousands of solidarity protesters across the Arab world.
Israeli troops said they defensively opened fire against protesters who marched on Israel's borders from Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
The Lebanese army said that 10 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when Israeli forces shot at rock-throwing protesters. A spokesman for the Israeli military said that Lebanon's army also opened fire in an attempt to keep protesters away from the border.
Along the Syrian border, thousands of protesters stormed the fence and hundreds burst through, pelting Israeli soldiers with stones. Syrian officials said that four people were killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire at the crowd.
In Gaza, medics reported that 82 protesters were wounded by Israeli gunfire as they attempted to approach the fence that separates the coastal strip from southern Israel.
Israeli officials blamed all of the incidents on "provocation" inspired by Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Arab States were attempting to distract from their own internal problems by drawing attention to the Palestinian nationalist cause.
"We hope the calm and quiet will quickly return. But let nobody be misled: we are determined to defend our borders and sovereignty," Netanyahu added.
Speaking at a televised address to mark Naqba day, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that those killed were martyrs to the Palestinian cause.
"Their precious blood will not be wasted. It was spilt for the sake of our nation's freedom," Abbas said.
In the wake of the "Arab Spring" revolutions that have swept across the region, the plight of Palestinians has become a popular cause. As protesters in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan chanted for democratic reforms and elections, side-protests were held for Palestinian statehood.
In Tunis earlier this month, a group of protesters held a demonstration in front of the cities national theater to highlight the issue.
"We have our freedom, now they deserve theirs," said Malek Amou, a 27-year-old blogger who was starting a Facebook page for solidarity protests with the Palestinians.
"Since the Arab Spring there is more solidarity across the Arab world completely. We all want to help each other until we are all free — all our Arab brothers," he said.
In Egypt, thousands turned up at solidarity Naqba protests and attempted to march towards Gaza until they were turned around by the Egyptian military.
Hima Nawoub, a 24-year-old student in Cairo, said that the Palestinian cause had become "central" to young Egyptians since the revolution.
"Suddenly everyone is talking about the Palestinians. I think we are all inspired by our revolution. It has been too long for them under occupation. We want them to have revolution too," she said.
Despite the support from their Arab neighbors, Palestinians remain reluctant to take to the streets en masse.
Hamzi Musla, a 46-year-old shopkeeper in Ramallah said that there were still too many internal problems within Palestinian society.
"First we must be a united force, then we can fight the Israeli occupation. We are currently many different people — not one united person," he said.
He added that his two teenage children were among the protesters in Ramallah.
"They are young and hopeful. I have seen too many disappointments already," he said.
Earlier this month, Palestinian officials announced they had reached a reconciliation agreement between the Fatah government that controls the West Bank, and the Hamas authority that has ruled Gaza since June 2007. While the details of reconciliation have remained unclear, the two sides have pledged to hold elections together.
A spokesman for the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Sami Abu Zuhri, called Sunday "a turning point in the Israeli-Arab conflict" that proved the Palestinian people had united and that Arabs were committed to ending Israeli occupation.
Source: McClatchy Newspapers
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Lieberman's party proposes ban on Arab Nakba
By Reuters
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's party wants to ban Israeli Arabs from marking the anniversary of what they term "the Catastrophe" or Nakba, when in 1948 some 700,000 Arabs lost their homes in the war that led to the establishment of the state of Israel.
The ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party said it would propose legislation next week for a ban on the practice and a jail term of up to three years for violators.
"The draft law is intended to strengthen unity in the state of Israel and to ban marking Independence Day as a day of mourning," said party spokesman Tal Nahum.
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The initiative could fuel racial tensions stoked by Lieberman's February election campaign call to make voting or the holding of public office in Israel contingent on pledging loyalty to the Jewish state.
Arabs, who make up 20 percent of Israel's population, said the allegiance demand was aimed at them and accused Lieberman of racism.
Israel celebrated its Independence Day this year on April 29, in accordance with the Hebrew lunar calendar. Palestinian refugees around the world and Israel's Arab citizens mark the Nakba on May 15, the day after the British mandate over Palestine ended in 1948.
Ceremonies in the West Bank were held a day early this year because May 15 falls on Friday, the Muslim day of rest.
In Ramallah, hundreds of Palestinians, some holding large wooden keys to symbolize the keys of homes from which they fled in 1948, took part in a rally.
"I came here to show that we believe that one day we will return. If not me, then my son," said Mohammad Hassan, 79.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, on a visit to Syria, was to make a televised address later in the day to mark the Nakba.
The right-leaning government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Lieberman's party is a key ally, has not endorsed the Western and Arab-backed goal of Palestinian statehood.
It also firmly opposes the division of Jerusalem and the right of return of Palestinian refugees, and Netanyahu recently introduced a demand that Palestinians, as part of any future peace agreement, recognize Israel as a "Jewish state".
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's party wants to ban Israeli Arabs from marking the anniversary of what they term "the Catastrophe" or Nakba, when in 1948 some 700,000 Arabs lost their homes in the war that led to the establishment of the state of Israel.
The ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party said it would propose legislation next week for a ban on the practice and a jail term of up to three years for violators.
"The draft law is intended to strengthen unity in the state of Israel and to ban marking Independence Day as a day of mourning," said party spokesman Tal Nahum.
Advertisement
The initiative could fuel racial tensions stoked by Lieberman's February election campaign call to make voting or the holding of public office in Israel contingent on pledging loyalty to the Jewish state.
Arabs, who make up 20 percent of Israel's population, said the allegiance demand was aimed at them and accused Lieberman of racism.
Israel celebrated its Independence Day this year on April 29, in accordance with the Hebrew lunar calendar. Palestinian refugees around the world and Israel's Arab citizens mark the Nakba on May 15, the day after the British mandate over Palestine ended in 1948.
Ceremonies in the West Bank were held a day early this year because May 15 falls on Friday, the Muslim day of rest.
In Ramallah, hundreds of Palestinians, some holding large wooden keys to symbolize the keys of homes from which they fled in 1948, took part in a rally.
"I came here to show that we believe that one day we will return. If not me, then my son," said Mohammad Hassan, 79.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, on a visit to Syria, was to make a televised address later in the day to mark the Nakba.
The right-leaning government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Lieberman's party is a key ally, has not endorsed the Western and Arab-backed goal of Palestinian statehood.
It also firmly opposes the division of Jerusalem and the right of return of Palestinian refugees, and Netanyahu recently introduced a demand that Palestinians, as part of any future peace agreement, recognize Israel as a "Jewish state".
Israel pulls textbook with chapter on Nakba
By Or Kashti
The Ministry of Education has taken the unusual step of collecting all copies of the history textbook, "Nationalism: Building a State in the Middle East" which was published about two months ago by the Zalman Shazar Center. They will be returned to the shelves only after corrections are made to the text, particularly with reference to the War of Independence.
The book had already been approved by the ministry.
"Collecting the books from the shops is an unnecessary [form of] censorship," said Dr. Tsafrir Goldberg, who wrote the controversial chapter on the war. "The process of approving the text was completed in serious fashion from both the pedagogic and the historic points of view. The fact that the education minister changed does not mean that it is possible to bypass this procedure."
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On September 22, Haaretz reported that the textbook, which is meant for 11th and 12th-grades, for the first time presented the Palestinian claim that there had been ethnic cleansing in 1948.
"The Palestinians and the Arab countries contended that most of the refugees were civilians who were attacked and expelled from their homes by armed Jewish forces, which instituted a policy of ethnic cleansing, contrary to the proclamations of peace in the Declaration of Independence," states the text, which presented the Palestinian and the Israeli-Jewish versions side by side.
Criticism about the book was voiced by history teachers.
"Presenting Israel's claims as being equal to those of Arab propagandists is exactly like presenting the claims of the Nazis alongside those of the Jews," one of them said.
On the other hand, another teacher noted that the most important component in studying history is to introduce as many points of view as possible.
Following the newspaper report, Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar instructed the ministry's director general, Shimshon Shoshani, to examine the book and look into the process of approving texts in general.
Officials in the ministry said Sunday that an examination carried out by Michael Yaron, who is in charge of history studies, found "a great many mistakes, some of them serious. As a result of this examination it was decided that the original version of the textbook must be withdrawn and returned to the stores only after being corrected."
Among other things, the Shazar Center was asked to exchange the original Palestinian text that appears in the book, written by Walid Khalidi, for another that is closer to reality, said Goldberg, who finished making the changes recently.
Another demand was that the term "ethnic cleansing" be redacted. Goldberg says that he changed the phrase and spoke instead of an organized policy of expulsion.
When the corrections have been completed, the book will be reviewed again at the publishers and in the ministry, before it is given final approval.
"The state has the right to determine the contents of textbooks but this is not supposed to be done by the education minister," Goldberg said.
He noted, though, that some of the remarks were merely cosmetic and did not pose any problem. "The publishing house decided to make the corrections as a form of self censorship," Goldberg said.
Zvi Yekutiel, the executive director of the Shazar Center, said that "the book has to be aimed at the widest possible consensus and not at the fringes on the left or the right. We made a mistake and we are correcting it."
Last month, Yekutiel said that there had been no remarks about the chapter on the War of Independence during the process of approving the book.
He added that "the explicit instruction from the ministry was to include controversial points of view so that the students can confront them and make up their own minds."
Yekutiel said the ministry would pay for the collection of the books from the stores.
The ministry approved the textbook for use in the schools on July 26, after it had been sent to two external assessors - an academic and a teacher.
It was granted approval after an examination of its suitability for the curriculum and its scientific reliability.
The ministry spokesman said last week that, "from the start the book was intended to go into use as a textbook only from this coming January, so the students were not yet exposed to the relevant material. It was decided as well that the director general's circular should be corrected to make it clear that the responsibility and authority for approving textbooks is on the inspectors and coordinators who are responsible for the various subjects taught and who have to examine the books before they are approved and pass on their remarks and instructions."
The Ministry of Education has taken the unusual step of collecting all copies of the history textbook, "Nationalism: Building a State in the Middle East" which was published about two months ago by the Zalman Shazar Center. They will be returned to the shelves only after corrections are made to the text, particularly with reference to the War of Independence.
The book had already been approved by the ministry.
"Collecting the books from the shops is an unnecessary [form of] censorship," said Dr. Tsafrir Goldberg, who wrote the controversial chapter on the war. "The process of approving the text was completed in serious fashion from both the pedagogic and the historic points of view. The fact that the education minister changed does not mean that it is possible to bypass this procedure."
Advertisement
On September 22, Haaretz reported that the textbook, which is meant for 11th and 12th-grades, for the first time presented the Palestinian claim that there had been ethnic cleansing in 1948.
"The Palestinians and the Arab countries contended that most of the refugees were civilians who were attacked and expelled from their homes by armed Jewish forces, which instituted a policy of ethnic cleansing, contrary to the proclamations of peace in the Declaration of Independence," states the text, which presented the Palestinian and the Israeli-Jewish versions side by side.
Criticism about the book was voiced by history teachers.
"Presenting Israel's claims as being equal to those of Arab propagandists is exactly like presenting the claims of the Nazis alongside those of the Jews," one of them said.
On the other hand, another teacher noted that the most important component in studying history is to introduce as many points of view as possible.
Following the newspaper report, Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar instructed the ministry's director general, Shimshon Shoshani, to examine the book and look into the process of approving texts in general.
Officials in the ministry said Sunday that an examination carried out by Michael Yaron, who is in charge of history studies, found "a great many mistakes, some of them serious. As a result of this examination it was decided that the original version of the textbook must be withdrawn and returned to the stores only after being corrected."
Among other things, the Shazar Center was asked to exchange the original Palestinian text that appears in the book, written by Walid Khalidi, for another that is closer to reality, said Goldberg, who finished making the changes recently.
Another demand was that the term "ethnic cleansing" be redacted. Goldberg says that he changed the phrase and spoke instead of an organized policy of expulsion.
When the corrections have been completed, the book will be reviewed again at the publishers and in the ministry, before it is given final approval.
"The state has the right to determine the contents of textbooks but this is not supposed to be done by the education minister," Goldberg said.
He noted, though, that some of the remarks were merely cosmetic and did not pose any problem. "The publishing house decided to make the corrections as a form of self censorship," Goldberg said.
Zvi Yekutiel, the executive director of the Shazar Center, said that "the book has to be aimed at the widest possible consensus and not at the fringes on the left or the right. We made a mistake and we are correcting it."
Last month, Yekutiel said that there had been no remarks about the chapter on the War of Independence during the process of approving the book.
He added that "the explicit instruction from the ministry was to include controversial points of view so that the students can confront them and make up their own minds."
Yekutiel said the ministry would pay for the collection of the books from the stores.
The ministry approved the textbook for use in the schools on July 26, after it had been sent to two external assessors - an academic and a teacher.
It was granted approval after an examination of its suitability for the curriculum and its scientific reliability.
The ministry spokesman said last week that, "from the start the book was intended to go into use as a textbook only from this coming January, so the students were not yet exposed to the relevant material. It was decided as well that the director general's circular should be corrected to make it clear that the responsibility and authority for approving textbooks is on the inspectors and coordinators who are responsible for the various subjects taught and who have to examine the books before they are approved and pass on their remarks and instructions."
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