Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin
December 22, 2004
PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
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International Herald Tribune, Dec. 22, 2004:

The Palestinian schoolbooks:Planting seeds of the next war
By Itamar Marcus

One of the most meaningful gauges of the integrity of a peace process and
its likelihood for success is the degree to which the "peace partners"
educate towards peace. It is for this reason that the entire Palestinian
Authority (PA) education apparatus, both formal and informal, has been such
a tragic disappointment. Instead of seizing the opportunity to educate
future generations to live with Israel in peace, the PA has done everything
in its power to teach hatred to young minds.

Compounding the problem is that ever since the hatred in the Palestinian
textbooks has been exposed and world pressure has been mounting to
eliminate the hatred, various defenders of the PA curriculum have surfaced,
trying to legitimize this problematic educational system. The truth is that
the PA schoolbooks, both old and new, incite to hatred, violence and
anti-Semitism, and it's tragic that their defenders are enabling the PA to
avoid necessary peace education.

Anti-Semitism in presented openly in PA education. In the new 6th grade
book Reading the Koran, children read about Allah's warning to the Jews
that because of their evil Allah will kill them: "...Oh you who are Jews,
if you think that you are favored of Allah... Then long for death if you
are truthful... for the death from which you flee, that will surely
overtake you..." In other sections they learn of Jews being expelled from
their homes by Allah, and in another Jews are said to be like donkeys:
"Those [Jews] who were charged with the Torah, but did not observe it, are
like a donkey carrying books..." [1]

And while the Koran and Islam are certainly not under scrutiny here, it is
tragic that although the Koran and Islam have positive traditions regarding
Jews, the PA educators have chosen to incorporate only hateful religious
traditions. PA children are left with the impression that that the Koran
sees the Jews as an enemy of God, and consequently their enemy as well.

In the new textbooks, Israel is de-legitimized as a state. Israel is
portrayed as a foreign colonial occupier: "Colonialism: Palestine faced the
British occupation after the First World War in 1917, and the Israeli
occupation in 1948..." [2] Once Israel is an "occupation" it is a logical
step to define all of Israel's cities, regions and natural resources as
being part of "Palestine," including the Beersheba, the Negev, the Sea of
Galilee.[3] Israel's land is called the "stolen homeland," Israel's
creation the "catastrophe" and an encyclopedia is cited that was written
for "...Palestinians, so that they would remember their stolen homeland and
work for its salvation..."[4]

This teaching to not recognize Israel's existence is cemented through
dozens of maps in the schoolbooks in which "Palestine" encompasses all of
Israel. The argument that the map is not modern "Palestine" but "Mandatory
Palestine" is an insult to our intelligence. Children reading these
schoolbooks believe they are looking at maps that reflect the current
situation, not maps and pictures of British territory more than half a
century ago.

Completing the dangerous messages of the new books is the teaching that it
is a religious obligation for Israel to be destroyed:

"Islam encourages this [love of homeland] and established the defense of it
as an obligatory commandment for every Muslim if even a centimeter of his
land is stolen. I, a Palestinian Muslim, love my country Palestine..."[5]

The complete message Palestinian children are taught is that Jews,
according to Allah, are like donkeys; Israel is a colonial occupier who
stole their land; the cities, lakes and deserts of Israel are "occupied
Palestine;" and the Palestinian children are learning that they have an
obligation to liberate it "even if a centimeter is stolen."

The result of this delegitimization is a belief, frequently expressed by
Palestinian children, that justice can be achieved only through Israel's
destruction. Speaking on PA TV, a 14-year-old boy explained: "The Israelis
[came] from Holland, America, Iran. They [the Jews] came to take Palestine,
that is Tel-Aviv, Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Ramle. All these cities belong to
Palestine. We must expel all Israelis from Palestine. Because Israel -
there is nothing called Israel in the world." [PA TV Dec. 25, 2003]

Having never seen Israel on a map in school or on television, this
intelligent 14-year-old has concluded, "There is nothing called Israel in
the world."

Finally it should be stressed that all the new Palestinian schoolbooks
cited here were written during the most optimistic periods of the peace
process, before the violence began in September 2000. They are not a
response to the war but an expression of dangerous ideology that has to be
replaced if there will ever be peace. The ongoing attempts to defend these
PA schoolbooks are tragic, as the PA is using these arguments to justify
its education, and to refuse to improve their books. The PA is planting the
seeds of the next war in its youth. The defenders of PA hate education are
protecting and nurturing those seeds of war.

** Itamar Marcus is Director of Palestinian Media Watch, was Israeli
representative to the Tri - Lateral Anti Incitement Committee established
under the Wye accords, and has written reports on Palestinian Authority,
Syrian and Jordanian schoolbooks.

***

[1] [Reading the Koran, grade 6. p.20, 23, 78]
[2] [National Education, sixth grade, p. 16]
[3] [Our Beautiful Language, grade 6, Part A, p. 64, National Education,
sixth grade, pp. 9-10]
[4] [Our Beautiful Language, sixth grade, Part A, p. 112]
[5] [Islamic Education, sixth grade, Part A, p. 68]
*NOTE: This is the full version of the article, which the International
Herald Tribune edited for space.

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