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Scholars fight over which version of nation's founding to teach children
By Anthony C. LoBaido
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
WEDNESDAY
JUNE 27
2001
The portrayal of events surrounding the creation of Israel after World War II has become a topic of great controversy in the Jewish state, as officials decide which version of the "Palestinian Diaspora" to include in textbooks for Israeli school children.
Basically, there are two versions of the events behind the Palestinian Diaspora, which the new Arab film Al Nakba speaks of as the "Palestinian Catastrophe." The Israelis, while acknowledging that many Arabs were displaced during the formation of the modern state of Israel, claim that many Palestinians left of their own accord and planned to return after the Arabs had secured victory over the Israelis. Today's Palestinians, on the other hand, claim they were harshly evicted under a policy not unlike ethnic cleansing.
At stake in this issue is whether or not Israel is obliged to allow the return of up to 3 million Arabs who now claim refugee status back inside her borders. In addition, there is the issue of financial compensation.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak declared repeatedly that Israel bears "no moral responsibility" for the refugee problem. Barak was willing to allow the return only of tens of thousands of refugees under the framework of family reunification, with no Israeli culpability.
From the Palestinian perspective, Israel bears direct responsibility for their becoming refugees. The Palestinians demand that 3 million refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and elsewhere be given the "right of return," though Palestinian leaders say not everyone would exercise the right.
At the center of the latest controversy on the Palestinian Diaspora is Professor Benny Morris of Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel, a key participant in the film.
Since the ouster of Barak, new Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has raised the stakes in Israel's ongoing struggle with the Palestinians. Sharon has advocated that all Israeli schoolchildren be given a pro-Jewish version of the events surrounding the creation of Israel in their textbooks. Lamenting a "weakening of roots" of young Israelis during the Barak years – meaning a retraction of the Zionist ethos which has been integral to the nation's survival since 1948 – Sharon is taking great pains to make sure the conservative view of events is presented in school textbooks.
Opposing Sharon is a new breed of journalists, historians, academics and philosophers who – to the applause of pro-PLO Westerners overseas – have challenged the accepted version (or myth, as the new scholars call it) of Israel's initial creation in the late '40s.
Sharon has decried the efforts of these writers and thinkers, claiming that their work only serves the interests of the intifada and Palestinian leadership. Raanan Gissin, a top aide to Sharon, told the Jerusalem Post that Morris' brand of scholarship would "erode Israel's moral fiber."
Limor Livnat, Israel's education minister, ordered the works of Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian writer and poet, to be stricken from all Israeli textbooks, citing the need to "reinforce the education of our own nationalist literature."
"The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem 1947-49," Morris’ newly updated book, is at the vortex of this standoff.
Morris is seeking access to top-secret government documents, including records from a June 16, 1948, cabinet meeting that he claims are vital pieces to the puzzle of what happened to the Palestinians during that turbulent time in the region's history.
At this meeting, David Ben-Gurion, the founder of Israel, was concerned – from a military standpoint – that Palestinians had not been expelled from Ramle and Lydda, two heavily populated towns outside of Tel Aviv.
Israel's state archives quote Ben-Gurion as saying, "That two thorns are remaining – Lydda and Ramle – is a serious flaw in our standing right now." Other comments on this situation were blacked out of the official documents.
The late Labour Party leader Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995, commanded the operation to expel more than 20,000 Palestinians from Ramle and Lydda in July of 1948. Later in life, Rabin confessed that some of the troops under his command failed to carry out his orders, believing that they were immoral and unfair to the Palestinian people in the towns.
Morris has requested that all of the blacked-out portions of the official state transcript of the cabinet meeting be released. That request has been denied until at least 2002 by Yossi Beilin, who served as justice minister under the Barak regime.
Speaking on Beilin's decision, Morris told Newsday, "I can understand the hesitations of Beilin that splashing stories of the Israeli Defense Forces atrocities would harm the negotiations with the Palestinians. But this must be put against the more general argument that there will be endless negotiations with the Palestinians and Arab states and that this could remain as the [Israeli government's] contention for the next 50 years. It's a question of freedom of information vs. foreign-policy expediency."
Under Israeli law, documents may be declassified after 40 years. However, if such documents present the possibility of damage to Israel's national security, foreign policy or cause the loss of privacy of certain individuals, they may be suppressed by the government.
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