There Is No ‘Ban’ On Pro-Palestine Books In Newark Schools, Board Says

NEWARK, NJ — Some Newark residents and educators are protesting what they are describing as a “ban” involving the local public school district and a children’s book about the Palestine-Israel war. However, members of the Newark Board of Education say that they were not behind the decision to remove “A Little Piece of Ground” by Elizabeth Laird from the district’s classrooms.

Administrators also say that there is no “book ban” involving the work – or any others – in the Newark Public School District.

A district spokesperson confirmed the book was removed from the curriculum earlier this month, but didn’t elaborate on the reason, NJ Advance Media reported.

Some advocates and educators have been expressing their outrage over the move in the past few weeks. The controversy reached a new peak at the school board’s meeting on Jan. 25, with several people speaking in favor of the book – and against “book bans” – during public comment (watch the video below, or view it online here).

According to the book’s publisher, Haymarket Books, Laird’s work “explores the human cost of the occupation of Palestinian lands” through the eyes of a young boy:

“Twelve-year-old Karim Aboudi and his family are trapped in their Ramallah home by a strict curfew. In response to a Palestinian suicide bombing, the Israeli military subjects the West Bank town to a virtual siege. Meanwhile, Karim, trapped at home with his teenage brother and fearful parents, longs to play football with his friends. When the curfew ends, he and his friend discover an unused patch of ground that’s the perfect site for a football pitch. Nearby, an old car hidden intact under bulldozed building makes a brilliant den. But in this city there’s constant danger, even for schoolboys. And when Israeli soldiers find Karim outside during the next curfew, it seems impossible that he will survive.”

“I first visited Israel in 1968, and enjoyed a warm welcome from many Israeli friends,” a blurb on the author’s website says.

“Later, I lived in Beirut with my husband and son during the civil war there, and became aware for the first time of the tragedy of the Palestinian refugees,” the author continues. “I visited both Gaza and Ramallah, in the occupied territories, in 2002, while leading workshops for Palestinian writers. I was appalled by the circumstances in which people were living, and became aware that we in the West know very little of what life is like for Palestinians living under military occupation.”

But according to the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, the story is told from a “wholly one-sided position.”

“Denied access to his beloved soccer field, forced to watch his father humiliated by Israeli soldiers, the story promotes the view that all Israelis are bad and all Palestinians are good,” CEO Dov Ben-Shimon argued in a December post on the nonprofit’s website.

“The wars of 1948 and 1967 are noted with no mention of the key cause; namely, Arab rejectionism and violent aggression towards Israel,” Ben-Shimon wrote. “Nor is there any mention of the hundreds of Palestinian terrorist attacks over the years, and the slaughtering of Israeli men, women and children.”

“For the 12-year-old child who was assigned this book in the schools’ sixth grade language arts curriculum, there was no conclusion they could possibly reach except that Israel is the aggressor, and the Palestinians are the victims,” Ben-Shimon said.

“We felt this story would ultimately affect Newark students’ understanding of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and lead to negative perceptions of Jews and Israelis,” the CEO added.

The nonprofit’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) attempted to reach out to local educators and civic leaders to make their case about the book, but were often met with closed doors, unreturned phone calls and “outright hostility,” Ben-Shimon said.

However, after a year of “intense lobbying efforts” – the book, which had been assigned to sixth graders, has been pulled from 200 classrooms across the city, Ben-Shimon reported.

“It is a rare event for us to weigh in on curriculum issues, much less try to get a book removed from classroom study,” he elaborated. “In this current climate where libraries and school districts across the country have been banning books, we knew that to take this on would risk creating perceptions of inappropriate interference.”

“But the stakes were too high for us to ignore this one,” Ben-Shimon said.

‘SHOCKED AND DISAPPOINTED’

Several people lined up to speak about the removal of “A Little Piece of Ground” at last week’s Newark Board of Education meeting.

Karl Schwartz, a longtime Newark resident and educator, said he is “deeply concerned” about the decision to remove the book from the curriculum.

Calling the move a “clear example of a book ban,” Schwartz argued that its removal is similar to how “far-right” groups such as Moms for Liberty have been able to get rid of books with LGBTQ characters and critical race theory.

• See Related: Proposed Book Ban Shot Down In Essex County; LGBTQ Advocates Cheer

Sarah Alaeddin, a member of the Newark Teacher Project at Montclair State University and a Palestinian American, also protested the removal of the book.

“When I explained to my colleagues what book was being banned and what was going on, I cannot tell you how shocked and disappointed they were at this decision,” Alaeddin told board members.

“The alleged antisemitism in this book does not exist,” she claimed, adding that the book “illustrates the realities that Palestinians have historically faced and continue to face to this day.”

• See Related: 'Criticizing Israel Doesn't Make You Antisemitic,' Newark Activists Say

Article continues below

BOARD MEMBER: ‘WE DON’T BAN BOOKS IN NEWARK’

According to Newark Board of Education members, the book was pulled from the curriculum without their knowledge.

Board vice president Dawn Haynes had a strong rebuke to the opposition that surfaced during public comment at last week’s meeting: “We do not ban books in Newark.”

Haynes said that when the board was initially approached about potentially removing “A Little Piece of Ground,” it was made clear that Newark doesn’t “ban” books and that “oppression to one group of people is an oppression to all.”

“We were very clear that was not to happen,” Haynes said.

She pointed out that the Essex County School Boards Association recently approved a resolution that all school officials and librarians should “resist any efforts to ban books.” See Related: Essex County School Board Association Passes Book Ban Resolution

The board’s co-vice president, Vereliz Santana, supported Haynes, saying that her fellow members are in “full support” of the statement Haynes made to the organization that requested the removal of the book.

Superintendent Roger León also responded to the people denouncing the alleged ban.

“This district doesn't ban books, so the idea that a book is banned or censored – that doesn't happen here,” León said. “No student or staff member has been forbidden to read any material or any literature.”

No books have been removed from any school library in the district, León added.

“For 20 years, ‘A Little Piece of Ground’ was a book that was never read here in Newark schools,” he said. “No one applauded us or took credit for us not using the book.”

“Interestingly, last year, when we included the book in the curriculum offerings, we were criticized for doing so,” León said. “And we didn't remove the book then.”

“The assumption that we changed any materials from last year when this decision was made before the start of this year in order to take a side in any political conflict or as an act of ethnic bias during this school year is completely incorrect,” the superintendent said.

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site. Don’t forget to visit the Patch Newark Facebook page.