Tamir: They'll put out a death curse on me soon
Education minister's decision to depict Israel map with Green Line in Israeli textbooks wins harsh reactions; Tamir feels attacked. Olmert: No reason not to mention Green Line
Education Minister Yuli Tamir felt harassed pursuant to her decision to introduce textbooks depicting Israel's map with the Green Line, explaining an earlier comment that the reaction to the new textbooks was like a 'pulsa denura' (death curse).
Tamir's initiative to return the Green Line to maps of Israel in students' textbooks has caused a storm and earned her many verbal attacks.
She told Ynet that she'd heard on the radio that the committee of rabbis for the state of Israel warned her that what had happened to Ariel Sharon would happen to her as well.
"(In general) I feel that there's a chance for dialogue among the Israeli public, but sometimes reality hits me in the face and tells me there will not be an agreement on this issue," she said Tuesday evening.
"Today there was a political dialogue after which I felt that agreement is a liberal delusion," she added.
The head rabbi in Kiryat Motzkin Rabbi Daid Drukman, among those who found the Halachic passage to boycott the books, said the books are considered heretical.
"Whosoever rips parts of the Israel, his fate is of one who rips the Torah of Israel. The books must not be studied or kept at home," he said.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert discussed the issue saying, “There is no reason not to mark the Green Line and where the borders of the country were in 1967."
"However, there is a duty to present the fact that the government’s stance and the consensus in the country rule out returning to the 1967 borders,” he stressed.
Contentious decision
The decision is contentious one in Israeli society. A return to 1967 borders is the base of formal Palestinian and Arab demands from Israel.
Nonetheless, settlements in the West Bank that have accrued over time or are being built currently tend to blur the issue, by creating permanent population centers outside of the borders.
Tamir recently appealed to the Education Ministry's professional committee on the subject and found that "attention to the Green Line is lacking. For example, Gaza still appears to be part of Israel."
On Tuesday right wingers accused Tamir of losing her sense of nationalism, and said her proposal is more suited for the Peace Now movement than the Israeli education system. Settlements call for the new textbooks to be rejected.
The Yesha Council called on all schools in the "Zionist education system" not to put these new books into their plan.
"The education minister is trying to use educational propaganda to cut out about a fifth of the State of Israel from the map, which is where the tie between Israel and its land was based as a cradle in Jewish history," the council said.
Moran Zelikovich contributed to this article
