Israel has yet again outraged its Arab citizens and is being accused of trying to wipe out the Palestinian identity as its ministry of education takes several steps to "judaize" the syllabus in Arab schools.
The Education Minister, Gideon Saar, announced that the word "Nakba," Arabic for "catastrophe," will be banned from school books in the occupied territories.
Saar said his decision was because the Israeli education system cannot promote the idea that the creation of the Jewish state was a catastrophe and that referring to it as much would breed extremism amongst Arab Israelis.
A law was also proposed to cut all state aid to events related to the commemoration of the Nakba.
Nabka is the term used to refer to the creation of Israel in 1948 and is annually marked by Palestinians on May 15 as the most tragic event in Palestinian history. On the same day, Israel celebrates its independence day.
There are around half a million Arab students in Israel, which officials say lack proper classroom materials and schools are generally understaffed.
National anthem
Other decisions made by Israel’s education minister are Palestinian students will be forced to sing the Israeli national anthems in schools, promotions in school jobs will be linked to civil and military service in Israel.
Arab Israelis have objected to the new decisions and have accused the Israeli government of working towards the judaization of Palestine and the deformation of its history.
At a press conference members of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, the organization that represents Arab Israelis, objected to the extremist policies of the Likud government and its plans to eradicate Arab identity.
"Being a community of immigrants, Israelis try to search for common factors that link them together and form their identity," director of the committee Atef Moadi told Al Arabiya. "We are different. We are born with a strong bond with the place because this is our homeland."
"We are constantly facing ferocious attempts to erase our national identity," he said.
"That is why we are doing our best to preserve our identity as a minority in Israel," he said.
(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid)