TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Israeli high schools are not permitted to teach "Borderlife," the forthcoming book about an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man falling in love.
The book was nominated by teachers to be a part of the country's high school curriculum, but the education ministry rejected the book because it is "full of layers of hidden narratives, with criticism of the liberal-left part of the Israeli political spectrum, [and] wrapped in a romantic story of an impossible love.
The professional team came to the conclusion that young adolescent may have difficulty to go in depth into these layers."
Israeli author Dorit Rabinyan called the decision an "unbelievable scandal."
The book tells the story of Hilmi, a Palestinian artist, and Liat, an Israeli academic, who meet and fall in love in New York City. After both return to their homelands -- Hilmi to Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Liat to Tel Aviv -- both are forced to face the reality of life in the Middle East.
"I used New York as a neutral background to make it possible for the two to know each other," Rabinyan told NBC News. "The education ministry is willing to do anything to create an illusion that the Palestinian problem does not exist. Their main fear is the fact that a Palestinian can be seen as an intimate and close partner."
"Borderlife," will be available in the United States this year.
