The families have lived in Sheikh Jarrah since 1956 but an Israeli court ruled that the homes belonged to Jewish families.

Al Jazeera’s Sherine Tadros reports from occupied East Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said when he was opposition leader two years ago the word “nakba” in Israeli Arab schools was tantamount to spreading propaganda against Israel.

The term, which is not part of the curriculum in schools in Jewish communities, was introduced into a book for use in Arab schools in 2007 when the Education Ministry was run by Yuli Tamir of the centre-left Labour party.

The book was aimed at children, aged 8 and 9.

Arab citizens make up about a fifth of Israel’s population of seven million. The term nakba is used by Palestinians to describe the founding of Israel in a war when some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes.

“After studying the matter with education experts it was decided that the term nakba should be removed. It is inconceivable that in Israel we would talk about the establishment of the state as a catastrophe,” said Yisrael Twito, a spokesman for Education Minister Gideon Saar.

A passage in the textbook, describing the 1948 Middle East war at the time of Israel’s creation, said: “The Arabs call the war the nakba — a war of catastrophe, loss and humiliation — and the Jews call it the Independence War.”

Jafar Farrah, director of Mossawa, an Israeli-Arab advocacy group, said the decision to remove the term only “complicated the conflict”. He called it an attempt to distort the truth and seek confrontation with the country’s Arab population. (Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Jon Hemming)

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLM2389

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So as part of the Students Boycott Apartheid delegation we’ve been to quite a lot of places in such a short amount of time (Al-Quds/Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Khalil/Hebron, Dheishah Refugee Camp, Ramallah, Nablus, Balata Refugee Camp, Um Il Fahm, Al-Lajun, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Yaffa, Naqab/Negev, and Lyd ALL in ONE WEEK!). The organizers did an amazing job in developing the programming. So I’ll be writing up my analysis from all the meetings and places we went to within the coming week and most likely finishing it once I get back to the states. In the mean time check out the complete itinerary and feel free to ask any questions. We’ll be spending the next 4 days in Ramallah for workshops with Palestinian students and then I’ll be returning to Amman to catch a flight to Cairo to join the Viva Palestina USA Convoy inshaAllah/God-willing!

By the way, I took a ton of pictures that aren’t on the picasa gallery yet so I’ll upload the best ones now and a lot more once I get back.

After the Six Day War, the area came under the control of Israel, and the restriction limiting Jews into the mosque was lifted. In 1994 Baruch Goldsteintook an assault rifle into the enclosure and killed at least 29 Palestinian Muslims at prayer (I heard something like 45 people were killed from a tour guide at the Mosque. Perhaps 29 immediately, and more later from injuries…?), as well as injuring 125 others, before being bludgeoned to death by survivors. The resulting riots left an additional 26 Palestinians and 9 Israelis dead, and the incident provoked national and international condemnation of Goldstein’s actions.

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We’re heading to Bethlehem in a few hours to visit the Badil Resource Center which works on surveying the Palestinian refugee community to keep up-to-date statistics, to Khalil/Hebron tonight (Thursday), and should be back in Al-Quds/Jerusalem on Friday.

I began taking some video footage of Masjid Al-Aqsa and The Dome of the Rock but I need to edit the videos, so I will try to upload those to youtube and post them on the blog soon inshaAllah/God-willing!

I’m planning on going inside The Dome of the Rock later today. Will update with pics if I’m allowed to take them inside.

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After such an exhausting day and everything I had been through at the border to get there, I can’t explain how amazing it was to finally see The Dome of the Rock (Al-Sukhrah, where the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, ascended to heaven with the Angel Gabriel nearly 1400 years ago) and Masjid Al-Aqsa (where the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, prayed before his ascension).

Here is a picture I took after the prayer of exactly how I saw The Dome of the Rock for the first time:

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