MIDDLE EAST: PALESTINIAN SCHOOLBOOKS SAY FIGHTING ISRAEL 'IS ISLAMIC Duty

Ramallh, 29 March 2007 (AKI) - Source IRIN - Palestinian
schoolchildren are being taught to hate Israel and to see fighting
Israelis as a holy Islamic duty, according to a report by an Israeli
media monitoring group. New Palestinian 12th grade textbooks published
last December deny Israel's existence and teach 11-year-olds that the
Palestinian struggle is part of an overall war between Muslims and their
enemies, according to a Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) report entitled
"From nationalist battle to religious conflict".

 The Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) said it was
reviewing the issue.

 "The books don't allow for a Palestinian child to accept Israel as a
neighbour. When you define the conflict as a religious war you are no
longer fighting for your own national identity or territory but for
Islamic destiny. You have to accept either Islam or Israel," said Itamar
Marcus, PMW's director.

 "I would be happy if the books talked about a national struggle to get
as many rights as possible. But to package it as an everlasting war is
to generate years of conflict. It's child abuse against their own kids,"
he said.

 Some 926 Palestinian children and 118 Israeli children have been
killed in violence since 2000, according to NGO Remember These Children,
which monitors the number of minors killed on both sides.

 PMW translated various segments of the new Palestinian textbooks.
Lines translated from the 'Arabic Language, Literature and Criticism'
textbook read: "Palestine's war ended with a catastrophe that is
unprecedented in history, when the Zionist gangs stole Palestine and
expelled its people from their cities, their villages, their lands and
their houses, and established the State of Israel."

 The 'Islamic Education' textbook contains the lines: "The Ribat for
Allah is one of the actions related to Jihad for Allah, it means: Being
found in areas where there is a struggle between Muslims and their
enemies... the endurance of Palestine's people on their land. is one of
the greatest of the Ribat and they are worthy of a great reward from
Allah."

 PMW also accuses the Palestinian textbook authors of denying the
existence of Israel in the 'Physical Geography and Human Geography'
book. Its report reads: ".the size of the 'state' of 'Palestine' is said
to be more than 10,000 square kilometres, which is the figure one gets
only if Israel did not exist, as the full West Bank and Gaza Strip total
only 6,220 square kilometres.

 A map depicting Israeli and Palestinian terriroties as 'Palestine',
found in a new Palestinian school book, according to Palestinian Media
Watch  "Maps of the region likewise teach children to visualise a world
without Israel, as Israel does not exist on any map and its area is
marked as 'Palestine.'"

 Dr Mohammed al-Subu, acting head of Palestinian curriculum
development, said, "The problem is there is no trust between the two
sides. The PMW is talking about two or three pages referring to
historical Palestine and what happened in 1948, when some of the
Palestinians became refugees. It doesn't refer to recent history."

 He said the textbooks for pupils in grades one to 11 had all been
vetted and deemed acceptable to both Israelis and Palestinians.

 "Now we are discussing the grade 12 textbooks word by word and if
there is anything improper, we will fix it," he said.

 The Palestinian Authority (PA) began educating Palestinian children in
1994. Prior to the Palestinian curriculum, Gaza children used Egyptian
textbooks and West Bank children used Jordanian textbooks.

 The international community has in the past influenced the content of
Palestinian textbooks, according to Marcus, whose group first began
monitoring textbooks in 1998.

 "By the time the 2001 books came out we saw a lessening of the
incitement material. [But] in the new books, the intensity of the
language is much stronger than we have seen it since then," he said.

 Marcus criticised the Belgian government, which is credited in the
front of the new textbooks for helping to finance the publications.

 "It's a shame that Belgium is funding this stuff because it is not
helping the Palestinians. The children read it and just see Israelis as
monsters but we don't want to harm them at all," he said.

 Pierre Gillon, deputy head of mission at the Belgian embassy in Tel
Aviv, said the Belgian government was investigating.

 We are conducting some preliminary analysis into the reports about the
schoolbooks," he said.

 Israeli schoolbooks have also proved controversial. Last year, Israeli
education minister Yuli Tamir revealed that maps in some Israeli
textbooks showed land Israel conquered in the 1967 war - the West Bank,
East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights - as part of Israel
even though they are deemed occupied territory under international law.

 Much of the world believes the Green Line - the pre-1967 ceasefire
line between Israel and Jordan, which controlled the West Bank - should
be the basis for an international border between Israel and the West
Bank section of a future Palestinian state.

 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was reported in the Israeli press
last December as saying the Green Line could be included in textbooks
but added that the Israeli government and public would not accept the
Green Line as an international border.

 (IRIN/Aki)

 Mar-29-07 18:00
 

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