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Abstract
De-legitimization of Israel as a sovereign state and denial of the Jews' rights, indeed of their legitimate presence in Palestine in both antiquity and today, have been the cornerstone of the Arab position since the onset of the Middle East conflict. Even the peace agreements between Israel and some of its neighbours – Egypt (1979), the PLO (1993), Jordan (1994) – have not changed this attitude, as starkly illustrated by schoolbooks of the nations concerned. This essay describes the depiction of the Jewish state in Palestinian Authority (PA) schoolbooks in comparison to Arab, Iranian, and Israeli textbooks.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank all former and present members of Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) who were involved in this project, particularly Mr Ido Mizrahi for his assistance.
Notes
1. Other factors are the teachers in class, peers' influence, the atmosphere at home, on the street and in organizations of which pupils are members, the media, religious sermons in houses of prayer and elsewhere, etc.
2. For example, UNESCO Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Cooperation and Peace, and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by the General Conference at its eighteenth session, Paris, November 19, 1974, Articles IV 7, V 14; Declaration of Principles on Tolerance, proclaimed and signed by Member States of UNESCO on November 16, 1995, Articles 4, 5; Declaration of the Forty-Fourth Session of the International Conference on Education, Geneva, October 1994, endorsed by the General Conference of UNESCO at its twenty-eighth session, Paris, November 1995; Integrated Framework of Action on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy, approved by the General Conference of UNESCO at its twenty-eighth session, Paris, November 1995, Articles 6, 9, 16, 17, 18 – all are available at UNESCO's official website.
3. Israeli academics in particular tend to treat Israeli schoolbooks harshly, to the point of pedantry, with no parallel criticism on their part of Palestinian books. Thus, for example, the Israeli authors of a study criticized an Israeli Bible workbook for failing to present King David's conquests as expansionist wars – see Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, “Examination of Israeli Textbooks in Elementary Schools of the State Educational System” (April 2004), 13, http://www.ipcri.org/files/ibookseng.pdf. Conversely, no Israeli scholar has so far criticized Palestinian schoolbooks for their favourable description of the seventh-century Muslim conquests of much vaster lands.
4. The study included 435 Palestinian (of various editions, including reprints), 119 Egyptian, 115 Iranian, 101 Saudi, 68 Syrian and 64 Tunisian schoolbooks.
5. Egypt, Islamic Education, Grade 10 (2002), 39; Islamic Education, Grade 11 (2002), 77.
6. Egypt, Islamic Education, Grade 10 (2002), 39; Islamic Education, Grade 11 (2002), 77; Saudi Arabia, Hadith and Islamic Culture, Grade 10 (2007), 102; Syria, Islamic Education, Grade 6 (1999), 57; PA Ministry of the Endowments and Religious Affairs, Koran and its Sciences, Grade 11 (1996), 49.
7. Saudi Arabia, Hadith and Islamic Culture, Grade 10 (2007), 104–6.
8. Syria, National-Socialist Education, Grade 10 (1999), 104.
9. Syria, Islamic Education, Grade 10 (1999), 115–16.
10. Saudi Arabia, Dictation, Grade 8, Part 1 (2007), 24; Hadith, Grade 9 (2006), 148, respectively.
11. This Hadith also appears in one of the PA Ministry of Education's textbooks – see below the discussion of grade 11 books.
12. The PA Ministry of the Endowments and Religious Affairs, Hadith and its Sciences, Grade 11 (1996), 200. Since the bulk of this essay deals with schoolbooks published by the PA Ministry of Education, references to such books will not include this publishing body, for the sake of convenience. Most references were taken from the original editions of these books, with some updated ones, but all appeared in books that were being used during the school year of 2009/10.
13. Compare the first and second editions of History of the Modern and Contemporary World, Grade 10, 63 (both carry the date of 2004, but the second edition book also has the year 2005 written on the back cover). Following the issuance in 2005 of a report on the PA books of that grade the Belgian embassy in Tel Aviv asked the researcher to provide them with a copy of the page accompanied by English translation.
15. National Education, Grade 7 (2001), 22.
16. See, for example, K. Avieli-Tabibian, The Age of Horror and Hope: Chapters in History for Grades 10–12 (Tel Aviv: Center for Educational Technology, 2001), 160, 166; E. Bar-Navie and E. Nave, Modern Times Part 2: History of the People of Israel for Grades 10–12 (Tel Aviv: Sifrey Tel Aviv, 1999), 272; E. Bar-Navie, The Twentieth Century: A History of the People of Israel in the Latest Generations for Grades 10–12 (Tel Aviv: Sifrey Tel Aviv, 1998), 93; Avieli-Tabibian, The Age of Horror and Hope, 185, question 6A, respectively, and there are many similar cases in these books and elsewhere.
Most references to Israeli material are taken from schoolbooks examined in 2000 and 2002. Some of these books are no longer in use and the remainder have been revised since then. But ongoing research has shown that no major changes have taken place in the Israeli schoolbooks as far as the attitude to the rival ‘other’ and to peace is concerned.
17. Christian Education, Grade 7 (2001), 19.
18. Christian Education, Grade 2 (2001), 11.
19. See, for example, Christian Education, Grade 2 (2001), 43 (and the question on p. 45), 59.
20. History of the Middle Ages, Grade 7 (2001), 105; National Education, Grade 7 (2001), 3.
21. Reading and Texts, Grade 9, Part 2 (2004), 36.
22. National Education, Grade 2, Part 1 (2001), 4.
23. Reading and Texts, Grade 9, Part 2 (2004), 31.
24. National Education, Grade 4, Part 1 (2003), 50.
25. Geography of Palestine, Grade 7 (2001), 77.
26. Assignment, Health and Environment, Grade 7 (2001), 98.
27. See the chart entitled “Palestine's Inhabitants on 1.2.1999” in National Education, Grade 6 (2000), 11. See also the figures in another chart, and the footnote appearing there, in Geography of the Arab Homeland, Grade 9 (2003), 53.
28. National Education, Grade 7 (2001), 21.
29. National Education, Grade 7 (2001), 55.
30. Palestinian National Education, Grade 6 (Qadimah: 1996), 89.
31. A. Tirosh and B. Geller-Talithman, With Joshua – Pupil's Workbook, rev. ed. (Reches & Yavneh, 2000), 21.
32. See examples in National Education, Grade 2, Part 1 (2001), 16 under the title “Palestine is Arab and Muslim”; Geography of the Arab Homeland, Grade 9 (2003), 18; Geography of the World's Continents, Grade 10 (2004), 15; Physical Geography, Grade 5 (2004), 61; History of the Arabs and the World in the Twentieth Century, Grade 12 (2006), 72; Contemporary Issues, Grade 12 (2006), 27, as well as throughout an atlas approved for teaching in the PA schools: Atlas of Palestine, the Arab Homeland and the World (2003) – see in particular the political map on p. 48. In other cases the country in its entirety is shown with no names at all.
33. History of the Ancient Civilizations, Grade 5 (2004), 30. A similar text appears in Islamic Education, Grade 2, Part 1 (2001), 98.
34. Iris Greitzer, Tzviyah Fein and Meirah Segev, Israel in the 21st Century: Selected Topics in Geography for Upper Grades (Tel Aviv: Center for Educational Technology, 2009), 70, 80; Tzviyah Fein, Meirah Segev and Raheli Lavie, Israel – Man and Space: Selected Topics in Geography, rev. ed. (Center for Educational Technology, 2007), 11, 16, 33, 78.
35. Greitzer, et al., Israel, 33; Fein et al., Israel, 257.
36. Greitzer, et al., Israel, 6, 13, 120, 132, 136, 151, 179, 220; Fein, et al., Israel, 7, 9, 23, 110, 122, 126 and more.
37. E. Domka, The World and the Jews in Recent Generations (Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Institute, 1998), 231–2.
38. Arabic Language – Reading, Literature, Critique, Grade 12 (2006), 109.
39. National Education, Grade 4, Part 1 (2003), 43; National Education, Grade 6 (2000), 11.
40. See, for example, references to the Negev, and the cities of Haifa, Jaffa and Nazareth as Palestinian, without mentioning the fact that they all are located within Israel's pre-67 borders: National Education, Grade 2, Part 2 (2001), 25 (for the Negev); Geography of Palestine, Grade 7 (2007), 76–7 (for Haifa and Jaffa); General Sciences, Grade 6, Part 1 (2000), 111 (for Nazareth).
41. History of the Modern and Contemporary World, Grade 10 (2004), 60. Israeli schoolbooks, on the other hand, do sometimes refer to the “Palestinian national movement.” See Avieli-Tabibian, The Age of Horror and Hope, 185.
42. History of the Arabs and Muslims, Grade 6 (2000), 134.
43. There is a story about a Jew who stole Caliph Ali's coat of mail. According to that story Ali lost his case in court as he did not bring acceptable witnesses. The Jew, having witnessed a fair Islamic trial, immediately confessed and embraced Islam and Ali left the coat of mail in his hands as a present – Islamic Education, Grade 9, Part 2 (2004), 85. Another case is a statement that presents Jews as seeking wealth in marital engagement – Reading and Texts, Grade 9, Part 2 (2004), 22.
44. Islamic Education, Grade 12 (2006), 12; Islamic Education, Grade 9, Part 1 (2003), 48–9.
45. Our Beautiful Language, Grade 7, Part 1 (2001), 95; Reading and Texts, Grade 8, Part 1 (2002), 134.
46. Reading and Texts, Grade 8, Part 1 (2002), 77.
47. National Education, Grade 7 (2008), 20.
48. Arabic Language – Linguistic Sciences, Grade 12 [Sciences and Humanities] (2009), 61.
49. Reading and Texts, Grade 8, Part 2 (2008), 16. This piece, by an Egyptian writer who died in the 1920s, was not originally written against Jews. But its inclusion in a present-day Palestinian schoolbook may clearly have a negative impact.
50. (n.a.), On the Heels of the Flock D: Literature Reader and Exercises in Expression and Language (n.p. Otzrot, n.d.), 116–17.
51. The number of books used in Ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools and examined within the overall research project conducted in 2000 and 2002 was 94.
52. See the piece about the Arabs' important contribution to world civilization: A. Doron et al., From Generation to Generation: Lessons in History for State-Religious Schools, Part 2 (Tal, 1994), 220; see also the detailed description of the emergence of Islam and other aspects of that religion, including Jerusalem's sanctity to Muslims in The number of books used in Ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools and examined within the overall research project conducted in 2000 and 2002 was 94, 198–211, and see below more references.
53. See, for example, a story by the Lebanese writer Tawfiq Yusuf Awwad in: A. Peres, New Israeli Reader for Grade 6 (Jerusalem: Ministry of Education, 1992), 47–9, and a story by the Egyptian Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfuz in: R. Tzadka, Reading Selection for Grade 8 (Horev, 1992), 170–76.
54. E. Naveh, The Twentieth Century: On the Threshold of Tomorrow, History for Grade 9 (Jerusalem: Ministry of Education, 1999), 44, 85.
55. E. Rapp and Tz. Fine, People in [their] Space: A Geography Textbook for Grade 9 (Tel Aviv: Center for Educational Technology, 1998), 153.
56. H. Neeman, The Central Mountain [Range] and Jerusalem, Grades 7–9 (Tel Aviv: Educational TV, 1994).
57. K. Tabibian, Journey to the Past: The Twentieth Century – By Dint of Freedom, (Tel Aviv: Center for Educational Technology, 1999), 313.
58. H. Adan, V. Ashkenazi and B. Alperson, To Be Citizens in Israel – A Jewish and Democratic State: Civics Textbook for Pupils of the Upper Grades in State and State-Religious Schools (Jerusalem: Ministry of Education, 2000), 39.
59. E. Bar Navie and E. Naveh, Modern Times Part 2: History of the People of Israel for Grades 10–12 (Tel Aviv: Sifrey Tel Aviv, 1999), 228.
60. A. Cohen, Did I Understand? – Reading Comprehension (Qadimah: Reches, 1993), 222.
61. See the story in B. Talithman, The Way of Words, Book 5 (Tal Jerusalem: 1995), 128–9 about a friendship between a Jewish and an Arab family abruptly ended by the 1948 war.
62. O. Ben Yosef, R. Gerber and A. Cohen, Windows 1: Reader for State Schools (Tal Jerusalem: 1993), 82–3.
63. R. Motzafi and M. Shachar, What's the Connection? What's the Meaning? Part 2 (Qadimah: Reches, n.d.), 184.
64. Modern and Contemporary History of Palestine, Grade 11, Part 2 (2006), 87–8.
65. See, for example, Reading and Texts, Grade 8, Part 1 (2002), 73.
66. This poem was written in 1948 by an Egyptian poet but its inclusion in a PA schoolbook today carries a clear message of violent struggle for liberation.
67. Islamic Education, Grade 12 (2006), 113.
68. See, for example, the following assignment: “Choose one of the following fields (or any other field in coordination with the teacher): agriculture, industry, transportation, tourism, education or culture; try to portray the [development] possibilities in this field under the circumstances of peace in our region.” Ne'eman, The Central Mountain, 37.
69. R. Antman, ed., In the Language of Lines for Grade 4: Interdisciplinary Reader for State-Religious Schools (Or Yehndah: Kinneret, 2000), 155.
70. Islamic Education, Grade 9, Part 1 (2003), 62.
71. Linguistic Sciences, Grade 8, Part 2 (2002), 105.
72. Our Beautiful Language, Grade 7, Part 1 (2001), 97.
73. Reading and Texts, Grade 8, Part 1 (2002), 45.
74. See, for example, Reading and Texts, Grade 8, Part 2 (2002), 119.
75. Civic Education, Grade 3, Part 1 (2002), 7.
76. See, for example, Modern and Contemporary History of Palestine, Grade 11, Part 2 (2006), 86.
77. Islamic Education, Grade 11, Part 2 (2006), 79.
78. Modern and Contemporary History of Palestine, Grade 11, Part 2 (2006), 30–31.
79. The only improvement left in grade 12 books is the continued use of “Israel” alongside the older circumlocutions to denote pre-1967 Israeli territory.
80. Compare Our Beautiful Language, Grade 6, Part 1 (2000), 46 to the 2007 reprint.
81. Our Beautiful Language, Grade 3, Part 1 (2002), 14–15; Compare Our Beautiful Language, Grade 6, Part 1 (2000), 46 to the 2007 reprint (2009), 10–11.