Friday, 8 January 2016

Israeli-Palestinian love story omitted from curriculum tops bestseller lists

A love story between an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian Muslim has become an unlikely bestseller, after Israel’s education ministry refused to allow the book on the high school curriculum.
Dorit Rabinyan’s Gader Haya, known in English as Borderlife, was left off courses last week to avoid encouraging relationships between Jews and Arabs, sparking a backlash by Israeli cultural figures and a buying frenzy.
The e book has shot to the top of the fiction chart, becoming s a bestseller in bookstores and online.
The country’s main chart does not provide numbers, but Rabinyan’s agent said more than 5,000 copies had been sold in a week, a huge figure in Israel’s small market, with many bookstores selling out.
Deals to sell the rights in Hungary, Spain and Brazil had been discussed, while publication in the US, France and other countries, where translation deals had been agreed, would be sped up, the agent said.
Reflecting on the controversy, Rabinyan said that while she was “worried” about the future of Israeli democracy, she had been encouraged by the support she received.

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