well as to memorise entries on 33 terms considered basic to Zionist history, such as “Jewish democratic state”, “the War of Independence”, “the Law of Return”, and “Jewish National Fund”.
“Not only did much of the curriculum have no relevance to Arab schoolchildren, but it was designed to exclude their history and narrative,” said Dr Ghanem. “Our booklet is trying to rectify that.” He added that Arab education had also been damaged after decades of interference from the domestic security service, the Shin Bet, which has been vetting Arab teachers since Israel’s creation in 1948. The books had to be sent to the homes of Arab-Israeli schoolchildren, as the Education Ministry of Israel would not allow them to be sent to the schools.
On hearing of the booklet’s publication, Livnat said: “The Education Ministry is the only body authorized to determine the content of the education system, and no other body, including the monitoring committee, has the authority to distribute any materials in schools in the Arab sector.” She said she would be seeking the attorney general’s advice about whether publication of the booklet was legal.
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry has issued an instruction to all schools, including Arab ones, to begin teaching the “legacy” of Rehavam Ze’evi, the leader of the extreme-right Moledet party who was assassinated by Palestinian gunmen in October 2001. Ze’evi had repeatedly called for the “transfer – or expulsion – of Palestinians from the occupied territories and “inducements” to “encourage” Arab citizens to leave the region.
An Israeli law passed in July 2005 created a state-funded Ze’evi Heritage Centre and requires schools to establish a curriculum to “honour” Zeev’ memory. The drafters of the legislation argued that they were not interested in his political views but wanted only to teach children about his “love of the land”.
*this article was sourced from reports in Ha’aretz newspaper, Ilam Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel, and Zochrot.