Israeli textbooks say no 1948 catastrophe
The Israeli government will remove references to what Palestinians call the "catastrophe" of Israel's creation from textbooks for Arab schoolchildren, the education minister said on Wednesday.
The reference to "al-naqba," the Arabic word catastrophe as Palestinians call their defeat and exile in the war over Israel's 1948 creation, was controversially inserted by a dovish education minister for the first time in 2007.
Israeli Arab politician Hana Sweid accused the government of "naqba denial".
Teachers will be free to discuss the personal and national tragedies that befell Palestinians during the war, said Saar, who represents the hard-line governing Likud Party. But textbooks will be revised to remove the term, he added.
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The reference to "al-naqba," the Arabic word catastrophe as Palestinians call their defeat and exile in the war over Israel's 1948 creation, was controversially inserted by a dovish education minister for the first time in 2007.
Israeli Arab politician Hana Sweid accused the government of "naqba denial".
Teachers will be free to discuss the personal and national tragedies that befell Palestinians during the war, said Saar, who represents the hard-line governing Likud Party. But textbooks will be revised to remove the term, he added.