Sealed with a kiss? Excluded book celebrating Israeli and Palestinian love is bestseller in Israel after public outcry

An award-winning novel about a romance between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man has become an unlikely hit in Israel after being excluded from the country's school curriculum.

Tel Aviv-based author Dorit Rabinyan's Gader Haya, titled Borderlife in English, topped the bestseller lists amid a cultural outcry over the education ministry's decision to shelve it from the country's classrooms.

A campaign led by a video of Jews and Arabs kissing was launched in protest at the ministry's decision last week.

The video, organised by Time Out Tel Aviv magazine, featured six couples of different genders and sexualities who were happy to celebrate their love on camera.

Borderlife was rejected by senior officials in the country's education ministry for fear it could stoke up Jewish-Arab tension, despite teachers declaring their keenness to discuss it with pupils in the classroom.

A wave of violence over the past four months in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem has created a volatile atmosphere among Israelis and Palestinians.

But the novel celebrating the mixed-faith relationship has jumped to the top of Israel's fiction list both online and in shops, AFP reported.

Set in New York, Borderlife plays out a relationship between the main protagonists away from the Middle East conflict.

Persian-Jewish author Rabinyan said the story created an opportunity for the characters to reflect on their similarities and differences.

Time Out Tel Aviv editor in chief Alex Polonsky said the magazine's kissing video was aimed squarely at the book's critics, describing it as the "best answer to racist voices that you can hear from right wing extremists here in Israel".