New Israeli government textbook: creation of Israel was a Palestinian tragedy

Israel's Education Ministry says it is offering a new textbook for Arab third-graders acknowledging for the first time that the creation of the Jewish state was a tragedy for Palestinians.

The textbooks for the upcoming school year give the Jewish narrative of the events of 1948 and 1949 when Israel's creation drew an invasion by Arab armies in a conflict that displaced some 700,000 Palestinians. They point out Jews' historical connection to the Holy Land and their need for a state because of persecution in Europe, said Dalia Fenig, an Education Ministry inspector.

But for the first time, the book also explains why the war was a tragedy from the Palestinian perspective, referring to the Arab defeat as "al-Naqba," Arabic for catastrophe and the common Arab term for the war.

"The new approach says, why should you hide anything? That won't make it disappear and ... the issues can be debated," Fenig said Sunday.

However, she said the Education Ministry has no plans to introduce the Arab narrative into textbooks for Jewish students.

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