What are Feeds?
A Contrast in Education
August 24, 2007
As the Jewish community reaches out to Arab neighbors through cultural education of their children, the Palestinian community teaches hate and annihilation. Jewish 5th and 6th graders in Haifa Israel will be taught spoken Arabic and Islamic history this coming year while 12th grade Palestinian textbooks portray a Middle East without Israel and teaches that the physical annihilation of the Jewish people will be rewarded by Allah, the Muslim god.
According to the educational director for the Haifa municipality, Rachel Metuki, the goal of the project is to "link Jewish pupils to the Arab population which is the second-largest [community] in the country." She also said that, "The program is experiential, and in addition to the language lessons, there will be story tellers in Arabic, audio tapes and plays in Arabic. The pupils will learn about Arab family and community life, cultural codes, and all aspects of customs." The Jewish community is actively attempting to build stronger ties with their Arabic neighbors through the education of their children.
In stark contrast, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Higher Education published the following statement in the new 12th grade curriculum: “There is no doubt that the endurance of Palestine’s people (Arabs) on their land in these days, and their persistence against the damage and the aggression they endure- is one of the greatest of the Ribat (defending the border areas of Islam), and they are worthy of a great reward from Allah.” The curriculum repeatedly reinforces several damaging themes aimed at the annihilation of the Jewish people and the state of Israel.
The new textbooks that will be in Arabic students hands this school year were reviewed by the staff at Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) and the contents have been revealed. In a recent press conference held by Itamar Marcus, Director of PMW, he said that the overwhelming message being relayed to Arabic students is “Not just denying Israel’s right to exist, they deny Jews right to exist as well and they package it as God’s will.” The new curriculum teaches Arabic children that fighting against Israel is a religious battle of Islam, that Israel does not even exist, and that every student should actively resist “the Zionist enemy” because they “stole” the Arab’s land.
The new textbooks repeatedly stress to students that the fight against Israel and the Jewish people is a religious conflict and not just a national or regional war. According to PMW, there has been an intense shift among Israeli Arabs from Palestinian nationalism to a global Islamic war against the Jewish people and their allies. According to a recent survey, a majority of Israeli Arabs prefer an Islamic state replacing all of Israel and not just a political entity coexisting along side of Israel.
Not a single map or description of the Middle East in the new curriculum acknowledges the existence of the state of Israel. According to a recent publication by PMW on the material contained in the new textbooks, “Maps of the region teach children to visualize a world without Israel, as Israel does not exist on any map and its area is marked as 'Palestine'."
Israel is repeatedly described as the aggressor against the Palestinian people and called “the Zionist enemy”, the “enemy of this people (Arabs)”, and “Zionist Gangs”. The founding of the state of Israel in 1948 is described as an "occupation” in which Israel “stole” the land from the Palestinian people. The textbook reads, “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.”
Most civilizations attempt to reinforce to their children their most precious ideals and beliefs through education. Israel and the Palestinian Authority are also instilling powerful yet conflicting ideals into their children that will have lasting consequences on future generations.
According to the educational director for the Haifa municipality, Rachel Metuki, the goal of the project is to "link Jewish pupils to the Arab population which is the second-largest [community] in the country." She also said that, "The program is experiential, and in addition to the language lessons, there will be story tellers in Arabic, audio tapes and plays in Arabic. The pupils will learn about Arab family and community life, cultural codes, and all aspects of customs." The Jewish community is actively attempting to build stronger ties with their Arabic neighbors through the education of their children.
In stark contrast, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Higher Education published the following statement in the new 12th grade curriculum: “There is no doubt that the endurance of Palestine’s people (Arabs) on their land in these days, and their persistence against the damage and the aggression they endure- is one of the greatest of the Ribat (defending the border areas of Islam), and they are worthy of a great reward from Allah.” The curriculum repeatedly reinforces several damaging themes aimed at the annihilation of the Jewish people and the state of Israel.
The new textbooks that will be in Arabic students hands this school year were reviewed by the staff at Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) and the contents have been revealed. In a recent press conference held by Itamar Marcus, Director of PMW, he said that the overwhelming message being relayed to Arabic students is “Not just denying Israel’s right to exist, they deny Jews right to exist as well and they package it as God’s will.” The new curriculum teaches Arabic children that fighting against Israel is a religious battle of Islam, that Israel does not even exist, and that every student should actively resist “the Zionist enemy” because they “stole” the Arab’s land.
The new textbooks repeatedly stress to students that the fight against Israel and the Jewish people is a religious conflict and not just a national or regional war. According to PMW, there has been an intense shift among Israeli Arabs from Palestinian nationalism to a global Islamic war against the Jewish people and their allies. According to a recent survey, a majority of Israeli Arabs prefer an Islamic state replacing all of Israel and not just a political entity coexisting along side of Israel.
Not a single map or description of the Middle East in the new curriculum acknowledges the existence of the state of Israel. According to a recent publication by PMW on the material contained in the new textbooks, “Maps of the region teach children to visualize a world without Israel, as Israel does not exist on any map and its area is marked as 'Palestine'."
Israel is repeatedly described as the aggressor against the Palestinian people and called “the Zionist enemy”, the “enemy of this people (Arabs)”, and “Zionist Gangs”. The founding of the state of Israel in 1948 is described as an "occupation” in which Israel “stole” the land from the Palestinian people. The textbook reads, “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.”
Most civilizations attempt to reinforce to their children their most precious ideals and beliefs through education. Israel and the Palestinian Authority are also instilling powerful yet conflicting ideals into their children that will have lasting consequences on future generations.
