Monday, November 4, 2013

"To Shape Young Palestinians, Hamas Creates Its Own Textbooks"

"For the first time since taking control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, the Hamas movement is deviating from the approved Palestinian Authority curriculum, using the new texts as part of a broader push to infuse the next generation with its militant ideology."
Among other points, the books, used by 55,000 children in the eighth, ninth and 10th grades as part of a required “national education” course of study in government schools, do not recognize modern Israel, or even mention the Oslo Peace Accords the country signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s.
Textbooks have long been a point of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which dueling historical narratives and cultural clashes underpin a territorial fight. And they are central examples of what Israeli leaders call Palestinian “incitement” against Jews, held up as an obstacle to peace talks newly resumed under American pressure.
Fares Akram and Jodi Rudoren writing for the NYT

PS.. I can't find "Gaza City" on the Google Map "Location" feature for this post.

4 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

There are culture wars and then there are culture wars.

edutcher said...

Der Fuhrer nods.

JAL said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chip Ahoy said...

Psssst on your PS, wikipedia gives the coordinates underneath its main illustration:

31°31′N 34°27′E

Google Earth takes you right there. BOOM. City.

It looks dreadfully compressed from elevation. And there are photos all over the place.

Beautiful colorful lively interesting busy friendly-looking piles of food opulent bustling lovely photographs. It is not at all what I expected.