Gaza ministry of education to consider teaching Hebrew

The Ministry of Education in the Gaza Strip is considering teaching Hebrew in 2013 as an elective course, an official said Sunday. A number of courses in modern Hebrew are being prepared, deputy minister of education in Gaza Ziad Thabit said during a curriculum meeting. Several Hebrew speakers took part in the meeting, together with the ministry's director of curricula Sumayyah Nakhalah. Teaching Hebrew would be part of a drive by the ministry to introduce foreign languages into the curriculum. The ministry will also discuss the possibility of teaching Turkish in the future, Thabit said. Hebrew courses would be taught to ninth and tenth graders, Nakhalah added. The Palestinian Authority has never considered teaching Hebrew in the Palestinian curriculum, deputy minister of education Muhammad Abu Zeid told Ma'an. "It is unacceptable that disagreement reaches the educational curricula," he said, urging the Ministry of Education in Gaza to consult with the PA's ministry in order to implement a standardized curriculum in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "There shouldn't be any opposition to teaching Hebrew, but the issue hasn’t been discussed yet," Abu Zeid added. Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip speak or understand modern Hebrew as a result of having worked in Israel, or being imprisoned in Israeli jails.