A PALESTINIAN VIEW: Incitement on the ground

by Nadia Naser-Najjab

29 November 2004 

http://www.bitterlemons.org/previous/bl291104ed43.html#pal2

I recently heard Minister of Negotiations Affairs Saeb Erekat say that even if the Palestinian government consisted of Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, Israel would still claim it was not up to scratch. Many Palestinians would agree with the statement. The majority of Palestinians experience Israeli aggressions on a daily basis and have not seen any evidence of good intentions from the Israeli side. To them, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is not a man of peace. To Israelis, late President Yasser Arafat was the “obstacle to peace,” and since Arafat passed away the Israeli media has been full of comments and articles that consider this a great opportunity for peace. But only a week after Arafat's death, Sharon found another obstacle. On November 18, Sharon said that before negotiations could be resumed, successors to Arafat should put an end to incitement against Israelis in the Palestinian media and in the Palestinian curriculum. This is a very complicated condition to fulfill, mainly because it simply isn't true.

In 2000, a group called “Jews for Truth Now” accused Palestinians of incitement against Israel in the Palestinian school curriculum. The group claimed that a Palestinian textbook entitled “Our Country Palestine” teaches Palestinian 6th graders that Israel should be destroyed. The group advertised this in Haaretz newspaper, in the US and other countries. Khalil Mahshi, then General Director of International and Public Relations at the Ministry of Education, investigated the matter and found that the reference supposedly in that book did not exist. Nevertheless, the advertisement found an unquestioning audience. The Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, an American non-governmental organization, reprinted the accusation and published a report that was translated into different languages. As a result, two main funding sources for developing Palestinian curricula were ended, one from Italy and another from the World Bank.

Meanwhile, a 1998 study of 124 Israeli textbooks by Professor Daniel Bar-Tal, Tel Aviv University, which found that Arabs were consistently described as “hostile, deviant, cruel, immoral, unfair, and as having the intention to hurt Jews”, did not receive any kind of attention.

Textbooks aside, the issue that always seems to escape the attention in this kind of discussion is what's happening on the ground. As an occupying force that on a daily basis engages in practices humiliating to Palestinians, Israel is inciting against itself. Israel is denying basic human rights to Palestinians, and Palestinian resistance is inevitable. Most Palestinians are not prejudiced against Israelis and Palestinians do realize that not all Israelis are soldiers. There are hundreds of Israelis who support Palestinians in their struggle and work on activities to stop the Israeli aggression against Palestinians. Israeli peace activists are always welcomed by Palestinians and received in their homes.

The Palestinian majority realizes that the Israeli public is polarized and does not know the reality of daily Palestinian suffering. Palestinians believe the Israeli public is deceived by Israeli propaganda. I often hear comments that Israel is not genuine about implementing peace. I also hear Palestinians talking about steadfastness and struggle. The majority believes in a two-state solution and in a just peace for both peoples. There is a consensus, but, like in any society, it is not total. There are also Israelis on TV calling for death to Palestinians, and there were Israeli cabinet ministers calling for the assassination of Arafat, the elected president. But, it seems, for Sharon, Palestinians are not supposed to consider Israel an occupying force but a defensive one. Sharon seems to want Palestinians to stop calling his forces “occupation forces.”

I lecture in psychology at Birzeit University and I usually do not discuss politics with my students. But it is inevitable that they tell me about their travails at Israeli checkpoints, especially when they are late. And this is the least of the aggression, where common practices include assassination, house demolitions and land leveling. Are these not tools of incitement? Are we supposed to teach our children that the Israeli aggression is for our benefit? Are we expected to meet Israeli soldiers with flowers to set a good example for our children?

During the first intifada, the Israeli government closed down most schools and universities. How, then, did Palestinian children learn to throw stones? The presence of the Israeli army taught them this. At present, Palestinians suffer more than ever from the Israeli occupation, an occupation that is illegal by any standard. Recent pictures of Israeli soldiers violating dead Palestinian bodies, published in Yedioth Aharonot, are further evidence of the dehumanizing practices of an Israeli occupying force that operates from a position of unchallenged power.

The main questions now are: what does Sharon mean by incitement? Who defines what incitement is? Is incitement something that is only engaged in by the occupied? The Palestinian Authority should address these questions and refer to international law for a precise definition. Meanwhile, the international community must be balanced in monitoring incitement, but most importantly, should focus on achieving self-determination for Palestinians. There cannot be security for Israel without guaranteeing Palestinians their human rights and ending the greatest incitement of all, the Israeli occupation.- Published 29/11/2004 (c) bitterlemons.org

Nadia Naser-Najjab is a part-time assistant professor at the department of education and psychology at Birzeit University.