Israel rejects book on Jew-Arab love for school curriculum

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has refused to include a novel about a love affair between a Jewish woman and a Palestinian man in the country's high school curriculum, reportedly over concerns that it could encourage intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews.

The Israeli high school curriculum includes books on a variety of hot-button issues, including "Khirbet Khizeh," a 1949 novel about the expulsion of Arabs from a fictional village by Israeli soldiers, and "A Trumpet in the Wadi," a 1987 novel about a love affair between a Jewish man and a Christian Arab woman.

The ministry's decision comes after Israeli Cabinet ministers gave a preliminary approval this week to a bill that imposes new disclosure requirements on nonprofit groups that receive foreign funding.

Since the restrictions would apply mostly to liberal nonprofits, the bill drew accusations that the government was trying to crack down on critics.

Opposition legislator Ksenia Svetlova said the decision was "sickening" while A.B. Yehoshua, one of Israel's most famous authors, told Haaretz it was akin to "rejecting dozens of books, stories, plays and movies that each tried in their way to deal realistically with the complicated relationship between us and the minority that lives among us and under our occupation."