Children's Welfare Uppermost in Mind
"One of the purposes of education is to foster tolerance of the varying backgrounds and beliefs of others sharing this planet."It has long been pointed out that school textbooks given to Palestinian children leave much to be desired. Their portrayals of the struggles of the Palestinian people should, granted, be geared so that the children growing up in the society understand their history, their culture, the traditions behind their society's values.
From Selling Illusions by Neil Bissoondath"
But no social group should conspire to teach their children to assign blame, to embrace hatred, to become hardened bigots. There are always two sides to every story; an event that is seen by one group as a glorious new beginning can be perceived by another as their society's great tragedy. It is all the little details in between that tell the entire story, that represent a more neutral version of events.
Nowhere is that more true that in the historical atmosphere surrounding the Palestinians, hard done by time and again by intruders, invaders, petty despotic controllers. And then the final indignity to their sense of place and space, the creation of the State of Israel, an event that left them worried, perplexed and finally vindictively combative. While there may indeed have been ample space in that geography for two peoples to live side by side in peace, it simply did not transpire.
The reasons are various, the most obvious being the humanly-understandable perception of unfairness visited upon them by yet another intruder, aided and abetted by international agreement. This is something that has happened time and again throughout history as populations were shuffled about, geographic demarcations determined, and some groups discovered themselves to have been dealt a low hand, with no avenue of appeal.
The avenue of appeal that presented itself to the Palestinians with the considerable zeal and assistance of its Arab neighbours was to settle upon a long-standing and unforgiving war of dissent, a firm disagreement with and rejection of reality, resorting to a primeval calling-together of otherwise-dissenting tribes unified in their hatred of an unsanctified presence. Born was the iconography of terror and the irregular militias began to delight in delivering woe to their enemy.
But this is a new era, brought in by the simple fact that these tactics - although effective in the short run in bringing horror to the minds of the enemy - have not resulted in the longed-for victory of attrition and departure. It took a mere half-century and more to persuade the PLO that accommodation would steer them toward their goal of statehood. Hamas is still catching up; they and the motley assortment of other Islamists will not 'give up' too readily.
And they're still busy grooming replacements in the youth that grow up within a culture and a society that values the honour of avenging past slights and grievances, large and small. The practicality of presenting textbooks to the impressionable youth under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority undermines their position of reaching for an accord with Israel in the most obvious way.
The ongoing conflict, always teetering on the edge of disaster or agreement, has been presented to young Palestinians as a "religious battle" not a territorial dispute. Students of the new curriculum (designed and promulgated by the 'moderate' Fatah party) are taught that they must regard all of Palestine as their sacred land which it is their duty to defend. The disagreement with Israel is presented as "an epic battle for Islam", not a prospective negotiating process.
The textbooks, in fact, reject outright Israel's right of existence. The maps published within the new Palestinian curriculum absent the State of Israel, featuring an all-encompassing Palestine. The founding of the State of Israel is described unequivocally as a "catastrophe that is unprecedented in history". Within the texts Jews are described variously as "cunning thieving conquerers", "locusts" and "wild animals", reminiscent of Nazi de-humanizing propaganda.
Children are taught through a literature and language arts theatre to view themselves as fervent Muslims, willing and eager to give up their tender lives for the love of Allah in defending their homeland against the enemy. Future suicidists, murderers, jihadists, secure in the sublime belief they are doing Allah's will. A continuation of the old Palestinian curriculum, in a more deft no less determined manner, unmistakable in intent.
One grade 7 text asks students to consider writing a composition around the theme "how are we going to liberate our stolen land? Make use of the following ideas: Arab unity, genuine faith in Allah, most modern weapons and ammunition..." In this way are impressionable young children, the future leaders of the Palestinian people taught to respect their neighbours.
This resort to defamation and slander the better to encourage young people to abhor their neighbours, consider them sub-human, avariciously grasping land not theirs by the decree of Allah. These insults to the Divine must not be tolerated. It is the right and the duty of all who worship Allah to avenge the wrong done to Him and His followers.
This is how one seeks peace with one's neighbours, by preparing children to welcome the process, teaching them how to live in peace and harmony with their neighbours, Arab style.
Labels: Middle East
posted by Pieface @ Friday, February 09, 2007
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