Finding a roadmap to teach kids about Mideast

[newyorican]

Study examines history textbooks for Israelis, Palestinians

A recent study conducted by Dr. Ruth Firer, an Israeli professor at Hebrew University, and Dr. Sami Adwan, a Palestinian professor at Bethlehem University, examines Israeli and Palestinian textbooks to find out what each side says — and doesn’t say — about the other.

<snip>

What Firer and Adwan found is that both sets of textbooks stick to their own narrative and version of events, do little to understand the other side, and therefore propagate the conflict. Narratives are particularly poignant in textbooks, explained Firer, “because they are aimed at youngsters, so they have to be made simply and clearly.”

<snip>

Israeli texts, for example, treat the Balfour Declaration of 1917 — in which the British Foreign Secretary endorsed the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine — as "legitimate." Palestinian texts view the same declaration as “illegitimate” and an example of “Western colonialism.”

The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which established Israel as an independent state, is described in Israeli texts as the "War of Independence." Palestinian texts, however, describe the same event as "al naqba" or "catastrophe.”

<snip>

According to Adwan, many maps in Palestinian textbooks don't mention the state of Israel. At the same time, Firer found that Israeli maps often show the Green Line from 1967, but rarely show that Palestinian territories are on the other side.

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[bennywhale]

1. That is disgraceful. That is the level at which the hatred should be

attacked. If this present generation is too bitter to come to a solution for their children it will be up to the children to do it for themselves in the future.

There should be community building amongst youngsters across the divide, and empathy must be instilled in them. It is the parents that ingrain the hatred in their children, which is, to be honest, child abuse. Corrupting innocent minds at such an age is criminal.

Children aren't born hating the other side. However i wonder whether the parents and leaders actually want them to hate the other side.

They may view it as prudent to "their" struggle and security. It is much easier for an Isreali soldier to shoot palestinian children if he/she already hates them. And it is much easier to coerce a young palestinian to blow innocent people to bits on a bus if he/she hates them.

[Colorado Blue]

2. Amen. nt

[eyl]

3. OK, I admit confusion

According to Adwan, many maps in Palestinian textbooks don't mention the state of Israel. At the same time, Firer found that Israeli maps often show the Green Line from 1967, but rarely show that Palestinian territories are on the other side.

So what are they marked as? It's been a while since I looked at any children's textbook, but I'm pretty certain there weren't any "terra incognita" or "here be dragons" markings on them.