Does Israel want peace more than the West Bank? That is the billion dollar question. This story alone deserves a diary. I have been told many times that in Palestine the Arabs teach there is no Israel, but what does Israel teach?
A comment from the story on the Haaretz website:
Title: Who is it that needs reconition?
Name: Palestinian
City: Jerusalem State: Occupied Palestine
They completely delete our existence from the books they teach their children, then ask why our children grow up to hate them.
They ask for recognition from the non existent people that live in the non existent west bank and Gaza. They simply want us to disappear and still want us to recognize their right to make us bleed on our own land they have stolen.
enough said......
http://www.haaretz.com/...
What does being a "fair broker" mean? Equal treatment? Hearing multiple sides? Should we hold Israel to a higher standard, since we are always being told that they share our values? These are the types of question on my mind when I think about Israel and Palestine.
What are Israeli children being taught? This article gives us a glimpse.
An organization of right-wing rabbis on Tuesday issued a Halakhic decree forbidding students from using schoolbooks featuring maps of Israel which include the Green Line, Israel Radio reported.
The decree came in response to Education Minister Yuli Tamir's decision on Tuesday to add the pre-1967 borders to all new editions of textbooks.
Tamir defended the decision as the only way to teach students the basis of the region's politics, but her order came under fire from a number of right-wing groups.
Chairman of the National Union-National Religious Party Zevulun Orlev criticized Tamir's decision, saying she was imposing her "Peace Now" ideology on the ministry.
Tamir said Israel could not demand of its Arab neighbors to mark the June 4, 1967 borders, while the Israeli education system erased them from its textbooks and from children's awareness.
It seem that Knesset approved textbooks show no 1967 green line:
Her main findings included the disappearance of the Green Line and Arab cities in Israel from the maps in these books, and their presentation of sites and settlements in "Judea and Samaria," rather than in the "West Bank," as an integral part of Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/...
The fact that Haaretz lead with this story says to me, the Peace Now movement is getting traction. anotherAmerican did a diary on the Peace Now projects if you are not familar with them:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
There are people working toward peace in Israel, I just don't think it's their government. Olmert would like nothing better than to drag us into more hardline confrontations with Iran, Lebanon and Syria.
Before Israel claims the moral ground on what is being taught to the children, it need to take a hard look at themselves!