Palestinian textbooks don't demonize Jews or Israel

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

You may not like my sources but well I still do(doesn't mean I always agree with everything said in them)...

The Israeli educational system: http://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-schools-teach-children-to-value-peace/

The PA glorifying terrorists: http://unitedwithisrael.org/fatah-party-glorifies-suicide-bomber-on-facebook/

http://unitedwithisrael.org/fatah-encouraging-shahada/

Contrary to popular belief, Israeli Arabs partake in every part of society, and LIKE being in Israel for the most part. Here is just one small example(there are many others not mentioned there): http://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-master-chef-tv-show-highlights-israels-vibrant-democracy/

More about Israel's minorities(my Catholic American wife being one of them): http://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-safest-place-for-christians-in-middle-east/

Also, people like to pretend that nothing besides Israeli occupation exists in the world. I'm not saying that there being other occupations makes Israeli occupation of the west bank more just, as I've stated many times in the past I'm all for a two state solution. However, not acknowledging(or rarely so) that Israel is not the only one in the world to ever do this, is being biased at best.

http://unitedwithisrael.org/ignored-occupations-worldwide-highlight-anti-israel-bias/

And how about ending this post with a Turkish Journalist defending Israel?

http://unitedwithisrael.org/turkish-journalist-outspokenly-defends-israel/

I already humored you the first few times you did it; but to repeat: I am not interested in reading any more articles from your propaganda site "Stand With Israel," nor your "random-Muslims-who-love-Israel" spam.

As for your repeated nonsense about the supposed "equality" in Israel for Israeli Arabs, well it's already been debunked by your own Orr Commission as well as the US State Department. Discrimination against Arabs is endemic in Israel.

The Orr Commission, a government inquiry, concluded in 2003 that "government handling of the Arab sector has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory".

And the US state department says Israeli Arabs face "institutional, legal, and societal discrimination".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8165338.stm

Your wife is an Israeli citizen now, through her marriage to you ? Guess what - a Palestinian citizen of Israel can't import his/her foreign Arab spouse to Israel, much less get citizenship for their spouse. Just another example of the double standard...

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

basically I don't care. You find every fringe element site you can find to bash and present a one sided argument you can. Then if anyone dares suggest anything negative about Islam or Palestine, like you do about Israel you go screaming to the Mods. So whatever . The world knows. That is good enough for me.

LOL the US State Department and Yale University are now "fringe elements," yet you are still convinced that Zionism is not.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

LOL the US State Department and Yale University are now "fringe elements," yet you are still convinced that Zionism is not.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

That's nice

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Your OP study refutes the latter study released in 2011 which you posted to condemn Israeli textbooks. Why? If the OP study is wonderful proof Palestinian textbooks are cleared, claims Palestinian textbooks demonize Jews are just Zionist propaganda and cold hearted strategy to keep the focus on false claims of Palestinian misbehavior, then why do you not feel the OP study clears Israeli textbooks?

Looks like you got caught picking just the portion of the new study which fits your views. Completely ignored the part that didn't. Then you dug up an older study which contradicts the ignored conclusions in the OP study, which once again I would point out that you ignored, and used the older study to besmirch Israeli textbooks.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Your OP study refutes the latter study released in 2011 which you posted to condemn Israeli textbooks. Why? If the OP study is wonderful proof Palestinian textbooks are cleared, claims Palestinian textbooks demonize Jews are just Zionist propaganda and cold hearted strategy to keep the focus on false claims of Palestinian misbehavior, then why do you not feel the OP study clears Israeli textbooks?

Looks like you got caught picking just the portion of the new study which fits your views. Completely ignored the part that didn't. Then you dug up an older study which contradicts the ignored conclusions in the OP study, which once again I would point out that you ignored, and used the older study to besmirch Israeli textbooks.

They are different studies, conducted in different years, and used different source material. I would not expect them to be identical. However, Peled-Elhanan gives extensive sourcing of the material she cites, including edition and page number. Again, are you calling her a liar, and do you deny that the material exists ?

The Yale professor (who happens to be Jewish) who conducted this latest study funded by the US State Department included only very mild criticism of Israeli textbooks, but he went totally off the Zio reservation when he refuted the long-standing claim about Palestinian textbooks demonizing Jews and Israel. This is what is unforgiveable, and the study is already being trashed by everyone from the Israeli government to the Chief Rabbinate (which is one of the organizations that had initially commissioned the study.) Interestingly enough, even the US State Department is now refusing to comment on it.

The sound you don't hear is the quiet tip-toeing away from the elephant in the room....

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

This is from a longer article written by Elhanan-Peled for Haaretz (December 2012) where she describes in detail the types of things she found in Israeli textbooks, and how they shape Israeli school children's perceptions about Palestinians and Arabs in general. In many cases, it's not only what is said, but also what is ignored and omitted from the discussion.

...not one book examined in my study contains a description or image of Palestinians, from either the territories or Israel proper, as modern or urban, or as employed in manufacturing or in a prestigious profession.

Palestinian refugees are presented as people who want to enter Israel and not as those who wish to return to their homeland; Israeli Arab citizens are depicted as the enemy within, a demographic threat and a minority that is inferior to the Jewish majority − individually, socially and economically. The Palestinians appear in the text only as representatives of the problems they constitute for Israel − backwardness and terrorism − or as part of the “refugee problem” that “has poisoned Israel’s relations with the Arab world and the international community for more than a generation”

...

The only pictures of Palestinians in the history textbooks I examined show barefoot refugees walking down an unidentified road...; tents in an unidentified location and time...; masked terrorists...; and farmers behind a plow led by oxen... The book “The Geography of Eretz Israel,” by Y. Aharoni and T. Saguy ‏(Lilach Press‏), offers a caricature of a man with a mustache wearing a kaffiyeh, either leading a camel or riding on one, often accompanied by a bent woman and children and sometimes an old Bedouin, every time the text refers to Arabs. These are the images that shape the way Israel’s Jewish students view their Arab and Palestinian neighbors, including their fellow Israeli citizens.

http://www.haaretz.com/culture/books/we-and-only-we-are-on-the-map-1.479038

This is not how you teach tolerance and respect for ethnic diversity, or reinforce perceptions of equality.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

This is from a longer article written by Elhanan-Peled for Haaretz (December 2012) where she describes in detail the types of things she found in Israeli textbooks, and how they shape Israeli school children's perceptions about Palestinians and Arabs in general. In many cases, it's not only what is said, but also what is ignored Andrew omitted from the discussion.

This is not how you teach tolerance and respect for ethnic diversity, or reinforce perceptions of equality.

You make my point, thank you! You omitted the portion of the OP study that found Israeli textbooks were largely free of demonizing Palestinians. Your doing so was deliberately ignoring the portion of the study which failed to support your own narrative.

There are reasonable questions regarding how valid the OP study truly is. But you want to give full acceptance to the clearing of Palestinian textbooks, deliberately ignore then belittle the same conclusion reached regarding Israeli textbooks, and are still trying to salvage this thread.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

You make my point, thank you! You omitted the portion of the OP study that found Israeli textbooks were largely free of demonizing Palestinians. Your doing so was deliberately ignoring the portion of the study which failed to support your own narrative.

There are reasonable questions regarding how valid the OP study truly is. But you want to give full acceptance to the clearing of Palestinian textbooks, deliberately ignore then belittle the same conclusion reached regarding Israeli textbooks, and are still trying to salvage this thread.

I didn't omit or belittle anything (deliberately or otherwise) - I quoted the OP article in full. You, however, keep flinging poo on Elhanan-Peled without any specifics....

[sandinista! 1,816]

Elhanan-Peled's findings, that were not addressed by the OP study, do not discredit the entire OP study. If you have evidence to discredit the portion of the OP study that you're taking issue with, by all means present it. The OP did just that.

You make my point, thank you! You omitted the portion of the OP study that found Israeli textbooks were largely free of demonizing Palestinians. Your doing so was deliberately ignoring the portion of the study which failed to support your own narrative.

There are reasonable questions regarding how valid the OP study truly is. But you want to give full acceptance to the clearing of Palestinian textbooks, deliberately ignore then belittle the same conclusion reached regarding Israeli textbooks, and are still trying to salvage this thread.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

I didn't omit or belittle anything (deliberately or otherwise) - I quoted the OP article in full. You, however, keep flinging poo on Elhanan-Peled without any specifics....

No, you flung the poo of another earlier study which I have neither flung poo at, nor brought up the quality of the earlier study, beyond pointing out that up until you brought up the earlier study which came to a contrary conclusion regarding Israeli textbooks you ignored the fact that the story you posted (regardless of including all of it, since it too ignored the conclusion regarding Israeli textbooks) was supposed to confirm the claim Palestinian textbooks don't demonize Israelis. Everyone is supposed to accept that conclusion regarding Palestinian textbooks at face value?

Why should the obvious glaring self serving omition in both your OP and disingenuous use of a contrary earlier study to gloss over that omition go unquestioned?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

No, you flung the poo of another earlier study which I have neither flung poo at, nor brought up the quality of the earlier study, beyond pointing out that up until you brought up the earlier study which came to a contrary conclusion regarding Israeli textbooks you ignored the fact that the story you posted (regardless of including all of it, since it too ignored the conclusion regarding Israeli textbooks) was supposed to confirm the claim Palestinian textbooks don't demonize Israelis. Everyone is supposed to accept that conclusion regarding Palestinian textbooks at face value?

Why should the obvious glaring self serving omition in both your OP and disingenuous use of a contrary earlier study to gloss over that omition go unquestioned?

You have become increasingly incoherent in this thread. Try to grasp the concept: There are two different studies by two different researchers; they are not identical in scope, and they don't even purport to study the same materials. Their findings are not mutually exclusive of each other.

There are reasonable questions regarding how valid the OP study truly is.

Such as ?

Not upholding a key Zionist talking point seems to be its cardinal offense.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

You rejected the findings in the OP, first by omission (as did your OP) that Israeli textbooks don't demonize Palestinians.

Still omitting the findings in the OP study you point to an older study finding Israeli textbooks do indeed demonize Palestinians.

How is the study in the OP so right in its conclusion that Palestinian textbooks don't demonize Israelis, yet so wrong in concluding neither do Israeli textbooks demonize Palestinians? Not very mysterious to be honest, you pick and choose the best way to present your one sided point of view.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

You rejected the findings in the OP, first by omission (as did your OP) that Israeli textbooks don't demonize Palestinians.

Still omitting the findings in the OP study you point to an older study finding Israeli textbooks do indeed demonize Palestinians.

How is the study in the OP so right in its conclusion that Palestinian textbooks don't demonize Israelis, yet so wrong in concluding neither do Israeli textbooks demonize Palestinians? Not very mysterious to be honest, you pick and choose the best way to present your one sided point of view.

I haven't rejected anything. You have made a bunch of assumptions, and now keep insisting that I agree with them.

And you have yet to give details on any of the "reasonable questions" you claim to have about the accuracy of either study.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

What's really fascinating is Israel's reaction to all this. If you didn't know any better, you'd think the Israeli government would be relieved or happy about it - hey, isn't it a good thing that Palestinians don't teach their kids to hate Jews ? We've been putting over peace over a needless concern, and now we can get ourselves back to the negotiating table!

Instead, the official reaction is one of extreme irritation. This should be a clue to anyone how important the meme was in Israel's overall strategy - to stall final negotiations long enough for it to finish taking the rest of the West Bank.

A textbook debate riddled with tired cliches

Israel’s kneejerk and formulaic reaction to the Israeli and Palestinian school textbooks study is a poor and unconvincing substitute for real soul-searching about the lack of progress towards a peace agreement.

By Daniella Peled | Feb.10, 2013 | 2:07 PM

That Palestinian school books teach their children to hate Israeli Jews is a cliché as legendarily interminable as the conflict itself. It’s part of a canon that includes the smug regurgitation of the paucity of Arab Nobel prize-winners and the bemoaning of the lack of a Palestinian Peace Now.

But the charge that Palestinian textbooks are riddled with incitement has long become an integral part of Israel’s diplomatic strategy, echoed by Western leaders in front of Israel-supporting and Jewish audiences.

“As long as the Palestinian Authority educates the younger generation to hate, how is it at all possible to talk about peace?” asked Benjamin Netanyahu, in response to the Palestinian UN bid last November.

Israeli concessions are useless, this argument goes, in light of the Palestinian refusal to recognize the right of the Jewish state to exist, one that begins in early childhood.

Perhaps this position lies behind Israel’s rather exaggerated response to last week's publication of “victims of our own narratives?”, a study into the portrayal of “the other“ in Israeli and Palestinian schoolbooks. The product of three years of research by three respected Israeli, Palestinian and American academics, was initiated by the Jerusalem-based Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land - which includes Israel’s Chief Rabbinate - and funded by the U.S. State Department.

Yet Jerusalem not only boycotted the study, but rather, in an analogy with the UN report into the 2009 war in Gaza, named it another “Goldstone Report,” and reportedly attempted to delay its publication. The reason for the outrage: How could the authors have even contemplated a comparison between the Israeli education system and the notoriously hate-filled Palestinian schools?

The study's publication received a predictable recourse meant to undermine its credentials by the usual government-friendly media organizations. Perhaps we are supposed to see the Israeli government’s own “incitement Index,” a pet project Netanyahu likes to roll out now and again, as a more impartial assessment of the situation.

But although Israel's Education Ministry refused to cooperate with academics apparently only interested “in maliciously slandering the Israeli educational system and the State of Israel,” their own curricula, in fact, don’t come off too bad from the study's analysis.

The excerpts from Israeli state school textbooks included in the study are quite encouraging. Overall, it seems Israeli state education shows a laudable level of self-criticism, refers to Islam in notably measured tones, and consistently presents the other side in a more positive light than their Palestinian equivalents.

But maybe that’s part of the problem; the very suggestion of equivalence between Israeli and Palestinian schooling, or, in fact, any comparison at all.

Responding to the study at a press conference, Yossi Kuperwasser, the director general of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs, told journalists that “putting us and the Palestinians in the same context is outrageous.”

...

But rubbishing the methodology of this study through the usual hasbara channels is a formulaic response that sounds increasingly old and tired. Israel needs to come up with a more convincing reason for the lack of a peace settlement than the argument that Palestinians are dedicated, from kindergarten upwards, to the destruction of the Jewish state.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/a-textbook-debate-riddled-with-tired-cliches.premium-1.502609#

Edited February 11, 2013 by wife_of_mahmoud