Why peace in the mid-East is ultimately impossible

[pizza]

Denial of Youth
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
Palestinian Media Watch | March 2, 2007

A recent poll of Palestinian children shows a direct correlation between the PA curriculum and Palestinian children's opinions. PMW's newest report on Palestinian Authority schoolbooks warns that because of the PA curriculum, which repeatedly and utterly rejects Israel's right to exist, "The well-meaning (Palestinian) student is left with no logical justification or religious option to accept Israel as a neighbor ..."
[See full Executive Summary below and Chapters 1-4 of report.]

At a Washington news conference to release the new report, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton likewise concluded that these PA schoolbooks are "...deeply disturbing, particularly for the denial of Israel's existence..."

The results that PMW and Sen. Clinton have warned about can be seen in a new poll released by Near East Consulting, a Palestinian research institute, which asked Palestinians, "Does Israel have the right to exist?"

Among young people ages 18 -25, those who have been most influenced by PA education, an overwhelming number - between 84% - 93% -- denied Israel's right to exist. [http://www.neareastconsulting.com/] This was higher than the overall figure of 75% who denied Israel's right to exist. It should be noted that PA teachings denying Israel's right to exist are endemic throughout PA society and media, including among Fatah leaders, which would account for the high levels of denial of Israel's legitimacy throughout PA society.


Click here to see video of Hillary Clinton's remarks at press conference
releasing PMW report in the US Senate Building

Click here to see the full PMW report on schoolbooks in WORD doc.

Click to see the full PMW report on schoolbooks in PDF for easing printing.

The following is the Executive Summary of the PMW schoolbook report:

From nationalist battle to religious conflict:
New 12th Grade Palestinian schoolbooks present a world without Israel

February 2007

Written by
Itamar Marcus, Director, Palestinian Media Watch
Barbara Crook, Associate Director, Palestinian Media Watch
With PMW research staff

"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."[Islamic Education, grade 12, pp. 86-87]

Table of Contents:

Executive Summary
Background
Findings

The Report
1. Fighting Israel until liberation - is religious battle of Islam
2. The "state" of "Palestine" exists in a world without Israel
3. A visual world without Israel: on all maps "Palestine" exists, Israel does not
4. Rejection of Israel's right to exist: Israel's founding was "a catastrophe that is unprecedented in history"
5. Holocaust Denial: World War II without a Holocaust
6. Palestinians depicted as victims of the racist "Zionist Enemy"
7. Terminology of disdain and demonization in schoolbooks
8. Jihad and Shahada – Martyrdom for Allah
9. USA - enemy of Palestinians, leader of "Clash of Civilizations"
10. Minimizing the Peace Processes between Israel and its neighbors
Appendix 1: About the books - Palestinian Curriculum Development Center (PCDC)
Appendix 2: Names of Palestinian Schools
Conclusion

Executive Summary
Background
At the end of 2006, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Higher Education introduced new 12th grade schoolbooks, written by the Center for Developing the Palestinian Curricula. The center is comprised of Palestinian educators appointed by the Fatah governments of Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, and directed by Dr. Naim Abu Al-Humos, former PA Minister of Higher Education, appointed in 2002. The center is backed by foreign funding, with special thanks to Belgium noted in the new schoolbooks. Before the year 2000, the schoolbooks used in the Palestinian Authority were primarily Jordanian and Egyptian books, republished by the PA. Between 2000 and 2005, responding to widespread international criticism of the old textbooks, the PA Ministry of Education issued new textbooks for Grades 1 through 11. This report by Palestinian Media Watch reviews the following new schoolbooks for Grade 12, recently introduced into PA schools:
• Physical Geography and Human Geography
• History of the Arabs and the World in the 20th Century
• Contemporary Problems
• Islamic Education
• Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and Criticism
• Arabic Language and the Science of Language
• Mathematics
• Scientific Culture

Findings
PMW has found that the new 12th grade Palestinian schoolbooks make no attempt to educate for peace and coexistence with Israel. Indeed, the opposite is true: The teachings repeatedly reject Israel's right to exist, present the conflict as a religious battle for Islam, teach Israel’s founding as imperialism, and actively portray a picture of the Middle East, both verbally and visually, in which Israel does not exist at all.

The following description of Israel's founding represents the dominant dogma about Israel in Palestinian schoolbooks:

"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." [Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and Criticism, grade 12, p. 104]

Defining Israel's founding as a "catastrophe unprecedented in history," “a theft perpetrated by "Zionist gangs," together with numerous other hateful descriptions of Israel as "colonial imperialist" and "racist," compounded by the presentation of the conflict as a religious war, leaves no latitude for students to have positive or even neutral attitudes towards Israel. This negative imagery and religious packaging are compounded by hateful presentations of Israeli policy. The young students are imbued with a Palestinian identity as “victims” just by virtue of Israel's existence. The well-meaning student is left with no logical justification or religious option to accept Israel as a neighbor or to seek coexistence. Given the total rejection of Israel's right to exist, on nationalistic and religious grounds, Palestinian terror against Israel since Israel's founding in 1948 is defined as: "resistance … acts of most glorious heroism." [Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and Commentary, grade 12 p 105]

Fighting Israel is a religious battle of Islam
But PA educators teach that fighting Israel is not merely a territorial conflict, but also a religious battle for Islam. The schoolbooks define the conflict with Israel as "Ribat for Allah" – "one of the actions related to Jihad for Allah, and it means: Being found in areas where there is a struggle between Muslims and their enemies." [Islamic Education, grade 12, p. 86]. Israel is thus stigmatized as existing on Islam's land, and fighting Israel is transformed from an Arab nationalistic goal into an uncompromising battle for God. Moreover, the youth are taught that their specific conflict with Israel - Ribat for "Palestine" - is "one of the greatest of the Ribat, and they [Palestinians] are worthy of a great reward from Allah". [Ibid, pp.86- 87].

The world without Israel - Israel does not exist at all
Beyond looking to the future, the educators have built a picture – both verbally and visually – of the present world, a world in which Israel does not exist. "Palestine" today is said to be a special "state" (Arabic – "Dawla" = state, not a geographical region) with water access to both the Mediterranean and the Red Seas, a situation possible only if Israel does not exist. [Physical Geography and Human Geography, grade 12, p. 105] Likewise the size of the "state" of "Palestine" is said to be more than 10,000 sq. km., which is the figure one gets only if Israel did not exist, as the full West Bank and Gaza Strip total only 6220 sq. km.
[Physical Geography and Human Geography, grade 12, p. 107]

Maps of the region likewise teach children to visualize a world without Israel, as Israel does not exist on any map and its area is marked as "Palestine."

Since all of Israel and all its cities are taught to be an "occupation" of "Palestine," and "Palestine" in all the school books replaces all of Israel, the following teaching can only mean that Israel's destruction is inevitable:

"Palestine will be liberated by its men, its women, its young ones and its elderly."
[Arabic Language and the Science of Language, grade 12, p. 44]

Terminology of Disdain
The terminology that the educators have chosen to use throughout the schoolbooks reinforces the message that youth should not accept Israel as a neighbor with a right to exist. The following terms all replace Israel, its founders, and status: “The Zionist enemy;" “The Zionist entity;” “The enemy of this people;” “The Zionist gangs;” “Zionist Imperialist plan.” Israel’s creation is “the occupation;” “stole Palestine;” “stole its land;” “in 1948, when the Jews occupied Palestine.” Palestinians are said to suffer from: “imperialist persecution, a life of exile, and the theft of freedom of thought and culture;” “massacre” and much more. (All sources appear in report.) With these as the educational messages, the next generation of Palestinian youth is actively being prevented from having any reasonable possibility of accepting Israel as a neighbor in reconciliation and peace.

The US and the West - a "Clash of Civilizations"
The current relationship with the West is described as a "Clash of Civilizations" between the West, led by the United States, and the Islamic-Arab world. [Contemporary Problems, grade 12, p. 92.] Islam promotes Human Rights [ibid, pp. 95-96], the US and the West, "the colonialist states, are taking advantage of it", "for interfering in the matters of other states, as is happening in Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur…" [ibid, p. 101] America and Russia are guilty of "violations of international humanitarian law in Iraq and Afghanistan and …in Chechnya." [ibid, p. 108] Fighting against American and British soldiers in Iraq is called "brave resistance to liberate Iraq" against "occupation." [History of the Arabs and the World in the 20th Century, grade 12, p.147]

Conclusion
One of the most meaningful gauges of the ideology and aspirations of a people is the education of its youth. For this reason, the new Palestinian Authority schoolbooks, introduced in the end of 2006 by the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Higher Education apparatus, are a continuation of the tragic disappointment of the earlier books. Instead of seizing the opportunity to educate future generations to live with Israel in peace, the PA schoolbooks glorify terror and teach their children to hate Israel, vilify Israel's existence and define the battle with Israel as an uncompromising religious war. Instead of working to minimize the current hate, the new PA curriculum is ingraining it into the next generation’s consciousness, and packaging the war against Israel as existential, mandatory and religious. The new PA schoolbooks are guaranteeing that the next generation will grow up seeing Israel as an illegitimate enemy to be hated, fought, and destroyed, rather than as a neighbor to negotiate with and to ultimately live beside in peace.


http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Re ... p?ID=27171

[Teresa B]

Sad. One of my best friends is a Middle East scholar, and her current project is writing a textbook in order to counter the propoganda that continues to promote this ongoing hatred. She hopes that the key may lie in education--but I wonder how such a book would ever be authorized for use over there. (I've told her my worries about her ending up with a fatwa, but she persists in her optimism.)

Teresa

[jbuck919]

I do hope everyone has made note of the nonsequitur between the "article" (which rises to the usual journalistic standards of what Pizza offals, er offers us) and Pizza's subject line.

[Corlyss_D]

I wonder how such a book would ever be authorized for use over there. (I've told her my worries about her ending up with a fatwa, but she persists in her optimism.)

Spot on, Teresa. Women have little standing in the system to challenge the system. They have to travel to western nations to do so and with every passing day the numbers of Muslims isolated and steeped in their culture of honor and vengence grows within European societies. Even if such brave women can reside in western nations, they are not safe from the crazies, like the young man that killed Theo van Gogh. There has been no mention of Hirsi Ali's security situation since she moved to the US, but my bet is she is still under police protection, just as Salman Rushdie is. Nowhere is safe anymore.

[Corlyss_D]

I do hope everyone has made note of the nonsequitur between the "article" and Pizza's subject line.

So you think there's no relationship between education and beliefs and adult behavior? It seems perfectly obvious to me: the Palestinians are probably using Saudi Arabian-produced texts which are designed to raise up the next generation of willing cannon fodder for the perpetual, if misguided, war against the Jews. The Saudis have long used their petrodollars to fund mosques, madrasahs, and radical imams in order to indoctrinate Muslims worldwide in the jihad against the Jews, the west, and modernism. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.

[jbuck919]

I do hope everyone has made note of the nonsequitur between the "article" and Pizza's subject line.

So you think there's no relationship between education and beliefs and adult behavior? It seems perfectly obvious to me: the Palestinians are probably using Saudi Arabian-produced texts which are designed to raise up the next generation of willing cannon fodder for the perpetual, if misguided, war against the Jews. The Saudis have long used their petrodollars to fund mosques, madrasahs, and radical imams in order to indoctrinate Muslims worldwide in the jihad against the Jews, the west, and modernism. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.

Traveling faster than the speed of light is "ultimately impossible." Living forever for a human being is "ultimately impossible." Are you getting my point now? People, Americans in particular, have a tendency, and no matter how desperate the situation may be it remains a cracker-barrel tendency, to dismiss as hopeless that to which they cannot see what would seem to them an acceptable solution. Northern Ireland is hopeless (we heard that one for years). Sub-Saharan Africa is a permanent basket case. There will never be peace in the mid-East. All these hyperboles are understandable because things often look that way, but only a--well, I'll avoid the characterization--goes around drawing that conclusion first and then looking for "evidence" to make it an inevitable and incontrovertible fact of the universe.

[karlhenning]

I do hope everyone has made note of the nonsequitur between the "article" and Pizza's subject line.

So you think there's no relationship between education and beliefs and adult behavior?

Corlyss, that is not what John said, and you know it.

The article spells out difficulties in the here and now. pizza's tendentious subject header says "it's never possible."

Cheers,
~Karl

[karlhenning]

Traveling faster than the speed of light is "ultimately impossible." Living forever for a human being is "ultimately impossible." Are you getting my point now?

And people at both political extremes in the US move very easily from what is The Case, to emotionalized exaggeration.

Cheers,
~Karl

[Corlyss_D]

I do hope everyone has made note of the nonsequitur between the "article" and Pizza's subject line.

So you think there's no relationship between education and beliefs and adult behavior?

Corlyss, that is not what John said, and you know it.

Hardly. There is nothing illogical about Pizza's use of the term "impossible" in that context. Very few people use "impossible" in the strictest sense; most people use it in the second sense, "not easy, not convenient; not easily." John's resort to the strict sense in no way refines his arch political commentary. Travel at the speed of light is not going to help the middle east situation, even it it is theoretically possible. It's just physically impossible for the foreseeable future, very much as peace in the middle east is physically impossible for the foreseeable future. Will both be impossible forever? Only time will tell.

[jbuck919]

Travel at the speed of light is not going to help the middle east situation, even it it is theoretically possible. It's just physically impossible for the foreseeable future, very much as peace in the middle east is physically impossible for the foreseeable future. Will both be impossible forever? Only time will tell.

Corlyss will be taking a sabbatical while she pursues her work on a perpetual motion machine and completes her treatise on why Communism never fell in Russia.

[piston]

What do you mean John? I have read that the biggest spam perpetrators are Russians!

[jbuck919]

What do you mean John? I have read that the biggest spam perpetrators are Russians!

It is my understanding that this is the primary source material for Corlyss' research on the non-fall of Communism. To lend historical depth to the scientific aspect of her work (i.e., the perpetual motion machine), she will cite the works of important disciples of Lysenko.

[Opus132]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40VFcJTIduw

Tom and Jerry: A plot for zionist domination? Those jews are really cunning, aren't they?

[piston]

Fundamentalism doesn't teach any fact, any empirically grounded interpretation; it only teaches dogma. In this regard, I find no significant difference between Christian or Islamic fundamentalism -- ideology dominates everything and dogma serves to interpret everything. By the way, this educator is a very sick man. Yet, I imagine that a Christian fundamentalist educator is not any less sicker. Sad, distressing, and tragic. It's where one can witness the actual decline of any "civilization"......

[piston]

And isn't it peculiar that "we" the people speak of a Protestant work ethic very positively but have never spoken similarly, to my knowledge, of a Judaic work ethic?! As for us, Catholics, particularly on the French and Italian side, it's, what is it again?, oh yes, la joie de vivre!

[Opus132]

Fundamentalism doesn't teach any fact, any empirically grounded interpretation; it only teaches dogma. In this regard, I find no significant difference between Christian or Islamic fundamentalism -- ideology dominates everything and dogma serves to interpret everything. By the way, this educator is a very sick man. Yet, I imagine that a Christian fundamentalist educator is not any less sicker. Sad, distressing, and tragic. It's where one can witness the actual decline of any "civilization"......

If everybody thinks like you then the west is truly without a future. The PCism was almost suffocating...

[piston]

I'm glad to hear that you've just had a breath of fresh air in your stuffy life.

[Barry]

Fundamentalism doesn't teach any fact, any empirically grounded interpretation; it only teaches dogma. In this regard, I find no significant difference between Christian or Islamic fundamentalism -- ideology dominates everything and dogma serves to interpret everything. By the way, this educator is a very sick man. Yet, I imagine that a Christian fundamentalist educator is not any less sicker. Sad, distressing, and tragic. It's where one can witness the actual decline of any "civilization"......

There is one HUGE difference between Christian and Muslim fundamentalism. While I may not be a fan of either, at least Christians gave up the idea of spreading their faith via religious wars centuries ago. Muslim fundamentalist don't seem to have progressed beyond the eighth century in that respect. And I have to say, that's a pretty significant difference.

[pizza]

I do hope everyone has made note of the nonsequitur between the "article" (which rises to the usual journalistic standards of what Pizza offals, er offers us) and Pizza's subject line.

What can you possibly know about journalistic standards! If it ain't the NY Times or the Washington Post, it ain't journalism?

Do you have anything at all that contradicts or questions a single factual statement in the lead article, other than what appears regularly in the controlled Arab presses (which I regularly read and I'm fairly certain you don't)? Why not enlighten us with your elitist Princeton-educated wisdom and boring mainstream-media journalism, John. Try not to dance around the point, if you can possibly control your perpetual urge to obscure simple, clearly defined issues with peripheral non-sequiturs. Never mind eternal life, perpetual motion or the speed of light. Never mind Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Somalia, lower Slobovia or Outer Mongolia. I didn't say peace was impossible in those places. Tell us about the mid-East. Get right to the point. Explain, as a teacher, and also as one who, I presume, claims some expertise in the field of education, just how and when the perpetual teaching of Palestinian kids to hate Israel and Jews -- a fixed and immutable part of their religious education -- will ever lead to peace.