[iwar] [fc:Israeli.watchdog.criticizes.new.Palestinian.textbooks]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-12-19 06:27:55
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 06:27:55 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Israeli.watchdog.criticizes.new.Palestinian.textbooks]
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         Israeli watchdog criticizes new Palestinian textbooks
 Latest feud raises issue: How to teach friendship when kids' reality
                               differs

                          By Peter Hermann
                     Baltimore Sun Foreign Staff
                Originally published December 18, 2001

 RAMALLAH, West Bank - In the world depicted in Palestinian textbooks,
the state of Israel does not exist. Palestinian gunmen who die in
attacks against Israelis are cast as heroes. Jews are depicted as
infiltrators, usurpers and occupiers.
A history exercise for seventh-grade pupils begins this way: "Let us
connect the name of the martyr in the first column to the place of his
martyrdom in the second column." In grade 11, students learn that high
fertility among Palestinians "is a demographic weapon" that will help
Palestinians outnumber Israelis.
Those lessons are from textbooks published by the Palestinian
Authority and distributed this year for the first time - a new
curriculum of Palestinian history and culture for children growing up
amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
An Israeli advocacy group believes the books are part of a pervasive
campaign of incitement that will distort what Palestinian youths
graduating from state-sponsored schools know about their Jewish
neighbors.
"Instead of working to erase hateful stereotypes, the new curriculum
is instilling them into the next generation's consciousness," said
Yonanan Manor, a co-editor of a critical report completed last month
by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace.
Palestinian educators see the books as an accurate reflection of
Palestinian heritage, with lessons designed to skirt political
controversies while taking into account the realities of a long,
violent conflict. "You cannot deny Palestinians the right to celebrate
their culture," said Omar Abu Humos, deputy director of curriculum
development for the Palestinian Ministry of Education. "These books
help the children react to the challenges of their time."
Where Israelis see incitement, Palestinians see national pride.
Hailing gunmen killed in clashes with Israelis - Palestinian "martyrs"
- does not endorse terrorist attacks, the Palestinians say, but honors
heroes of war. Pictures in textbooks of Israeli soldiers blocking
roads do not instill fear, they maintain, but reflect what children
see every day.
Debate over textbooks is hardly unique to Palestinians. Arguments take
place every year in school districts throughout the United States over
the appropriateness of textbooks, reading choices and teaching
methods. In Israel, a new right-wing education minister created an
uproar this year by trying to replace a history curriculum teaching
that Jews had forcibly ousted some of the Arabs who left their
villages when Israel became a state in 1948.
It is impossible, though, to wall off Palestinian classrooms from the
daily violence in the streets. Desks are left empty by students
wounded in the conflict; teachers miss class because they are stopped
at Israeli army checkpoints. School buildings have been shelled and in
some cases turned into temporary military posts. Students walking to
school have been killed by booby traps. At the same time, Israeli
schools have lost students to terrorist shootings and suicide
bombings.
The debate about textbooks reflects a larger question: How do you
teach reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis when reality
seems so different?
"Many in the international community underestimate the difficulty and
the sensitivity of producing a national curriculum and textbooks for a
people which is still suffering from a long and brutal occupation,"
the Palestinian Authority says in a written defense of its textbooks.
The Palestinian textbooks, however, appear to omit even basic
principles, such as Israel's right to exist, a concept accepted by the
Palestinian leadership but not taught to its youngest subjects.
Such omissions, critics argue, are the most harmful because they
deprive impressionable students of crucial information they need to
form independent opinions.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said last month that
Palestinians, in deeds as well as words, must recognize Israel as a
Jewish state before they can get a state of their own. But maps in
Palestinian textbooks fail to label Israel properly. It is referred to
as "the interior" and its inhabitants as occupiers or usurpers. Only a
few show the contours of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but they do not
name them. The area including what is now Israel is labeled
"Palestine."
Humos maintains that to mark Israel's borders on a map would be
inaccurate because the borders are not yet fixed. Therefore, the books
refer to the historical land of Palestine. Once the borders are
secure, he said, his textbooks will reflect it. "Our intent is purely
educational, not political," Humos said. "This is a way of teaching
the historical significance of Palestine without making any political
judgments."
The Israeli advocacy group, however, has found other unsettling
material: Names of Jewish religious sites are presented as being
Muslim holy places taken over by Jews. Pictures in books are of
Israeli soldiers blocking checkpoints, uprooting olive groves and
bulldozing homes. The books teach tolerance only between Muslims and
Christians.
Pupils in sixth grade are taught that a holy war "comes first after
worship." The textbook Our Beautiful Language tells pupils, "We expect
you, after studying this unit, to realize the following goals:
Glorification of the concept of martyrdom and martyrs." In another
section, pupils are quizzed to name martyrs from particular villages.
Manor, from the Israeli group, called these lessons dangerous.
Although the texts contain no direct call to violence against
Israelis, he said, honoring suicide-bombers teaches students that
dying while fighting Israel is not only acceptable but something to be
encouraged. "The concept of peace with Israel is not to be found
anywhere in the Palestinian textbooks," his study concluded. "It is
disturbing that even the very young pupils are exposed to the
rejection of mutual recognition, tolerance, respect and peace, in
favor of glorifying martyrdom and Jihad."
Humos said the Israeli report reflects Israelis' cultural bias.
Hailing martyrs, he said, is akin to proclaiming American
Revolutionary War fighters as heroes and memorizing names of famous
American generals. The fight against the Israelis is history in the
making, Humos said, adding that the schoolbooks were written
anticipating peace. "We are trying to help build a generation of
Palestinians who will have to build a new state."
Copyright © 2001, The Baltimore Sun

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