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On Sharon's charge of "incitement" in Palestinian textbooks and the continuing problems of access to Palestinian schools Arab Educational Institute Statement Bethlehem, November 23, 2004
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon accused the Palestinian National Authority of "incitement" because of the contents of the textbooks used at Palestinian schools. He brought up this charge, and the request to act upon it, as an Israeli political condition directed at the PNA in advance of the Palestinian presidential elections of January 9.
The Arab Educational Institute considers the charge unjustified and inappropriate.
1. The new Palestinian curriculum has been almost fully introduced, completing a mammoth operation that required the cooperation and instruction of tens of thousands of teachers, principals and administrators in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. According to Sami Adwan and Ruth Firer in an early study of this curriculum, the new books were "found to reflect Palestinian life and reality, as well as the diversity within Palestinian society... The texts teach Palestinian students to respect human rights, justice, peace, equality, freedom, and tolerance, in terms of both self and others. They caution students to avoid extremism and stereotypes, and encourage them to treat all people equally. The books also encourage tolerance among religions and ask students to respect the freedom of religion. The students are taught to protect all religious places as well… Students learn about Gandhi and his form of civil disobedience, and are asked to relate to other stories of peaceful forms of conflict resolution. We found no incitement for the use of violence at all." (*) This conclusion concurs with AEI's own experiences, as well as with a range of other studies conducted by both Palestinian and international scholars. The new curriculum is an honest attempt to transmit positive values, skills and knowledge areas to Palestinian students.
This is not to deny that the curriculum requires a thorough evaluation from the sides of all those involved. It is still far from perfect. The Palestinian Ministry of Education and civil society organizations like the AEI will be actively engaged in collecting evaluations from school communities concerning the curriculum, and we will conduct several workshops to that effect next year so as to bring in the voice of civil society. As an example: the "political education" in the curriculum is in our judgment open to revision. Within our network of schools in various districts in Palestine, it is often said that the curriculum tends to avoid, rather than to engage into, discussions on controversial political issues. As a rule, political discussions are relegated towards the extracurricular activities, which is a questionable practice. But it has also to be said that many NGOs, like the AEI, conduct such extracurricular activities with students from an explicit peace education perspective.
Besides Palestinians evaluating its textbooks, it should not be forgotten that any honest discussion of textbooks should involve a critical appraisal of the Israeli curriculum as well. The Israeli educational authorities should be asked to show that there is no incitement in textbooks used at, for instance, schools in settlements.
2. We also think that the charge is inappropriate considering Israel's actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that directly affect Palestinian education. The continuation of a violent occupation is itself a form of incitement, and it is very difficult to keep students at peace when they know that their life space can be intruded any time. We regularly learn about violence facing Palestinian school students. Thus, on 23 November 2004 the Israeli paper Haaretz reported about an Israeli commander who has been indicted for shooting a 13-year Palestinian girl who was on her way to school in Rafah (Gaza Strip) on October 5. The army communications network tape showed that the soldiers involved "kept firing at the girl even after she had been identified by soldiers as 'about 10 years old'." Palestinian hospital officials said the girl was shot at least 15 times, mostly in the upper body. Another report, published by Palestine Monitor, mentioned that on September 27, 2004, a girl died of the wounds she had sustained when she was shot by an Israeli soldier as she sat at her desk at the UNRWA Elementary School in Khan Younis. On October 9, the Christian Peacemaker Team issued a release reporting that international accompaniers of Palestinian school children in the Hebron district were violently attacked by Israeli settlers. And there are many other incidents which remain unreported.
It is no exaggeration to say that nowadays a great many Palestinian students, especially in areas near settlements and checkpoints, are afraid to go to school. International accompaniers of school children are no luxury in regions like Hebron, Nablus or Gaza. When the AEI recently organized a letter campaign addressing international politicians, the participating school students singled out the lack of safety on the roads as the major source of anxiety they have to confront.
We therefore wish that Prime Minister Sharon first upholds his responsibility to respect the Geneva Conventions and takes measures to safeguard the Palestinian students' access and right to education, before making allegations about Palestinian textbooks. Moreover, to be taken seriously, statements about textbooks should be based on a balanced study of the facts on both sides of the national divide.
----------------------------------------- (*) From a brief overview preceding a larger joint study. Ruth Firer is director of peace education projects at the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Sami Adwan is a professor of education at Bethlehem University in Bethlehem. The article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews), March 28, 2002. AEI is in the possession of an information package on the contents of Palestinian textbooks. Write to aei@p-ol.com
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