Will Textbooks Ever Get It Right?

For Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel, left,
                 and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president

In 2008 relations between the leaders of Israel and of Palestine had reached its peak and relations between the two were closer than they had ever been after talks of peace. While the two were in talks they conceived an idea of taking a comparative look at how textbooks in their nations were portraying the other. Their task was to look at how they portrayed the other side in textbooks and show what the children were being taught about the other. The study was to be conducted by researchers from the United States, Israel, and the Palestinian authority, and the U.S. State department funded the study. A rarity had been achieved Israel and Palestine coming to an agreement about the portrayal of each other’s countries in textbooks.

United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., for a one-day
 conference on Middle East peace

The study found that “Israeli state textbooks- when compared to Palestinian and Israeli ultra-orthodox texts- provide more information about Palestinians, less negative overall characterizations, and multiple examples of actions by Israelis against Palestinians that were criticized as wrong by Israeli citizens and leaders”.  Ravid and Kashti both found that the final study proved that each side has it’s faults and while Palestinian textbooks are criticized for being too harsh in their portrayal of Israel, and, although Israel has a more balanced history, their narrative isn’t balanced enough and portray Palestinians negatively. What’s funny is that this study took three years, a lot of money, and a lot of controversy to find information that seems kind of obvious: Israel and Palestine demonize one another in their textbooks, but Palestine more than Israel. The study is flawed but the hope is that there will be modest improvement in how the other sides understand and respect the other.

When the study was conceived in 2008 relations between the leaders of Israel and Palestine had peaked, but in 2009 a new government took over in Israel and relations hit a wall. Many people criticize the study and the author brings up how the comparison between the two groups is twisted and that Israel and Palestine are not the same. The Education Ministry opposed the study because they didn’t want to work with anyone who “seeks to slander the Israeli education system and the State of Israel”.

The study turned out to be a nightmare for many of those involved. The U.S. was over the whole situation and decided not to adopt the conclusions of the study. The Education Ministry opposed the entire study and refused to cooperate siting that the study lacked objectivity. Their refusal made the U.S. officials were eager for the project to end, they believed that the study would only make the situation more complicated.

The article written by Or Kashti and Barak Ravid titled “Both Israel and Palestinians demonize other side in school textbooks, first line in article “a study due to be released on Monday…” My first impression of the article is that it seems a bit premature since it was written before the release of the final study. Kashiti and Ravid explain that the textbooks found in both Israel and Palestine portrays one another negatively. The authors explain the situation and how the study of each countries textbook came about. Because this article was written before the release of the final study it takes into question the reliability of the article. The authors appear to be using sources who have read the final report, but they fail on specifics of who these people are and their relations to the study. Although, at the time of the article, they hadn’t seen the final report, the authors do quote authorities on the subject, all of who are Israeli. Because they fail to use sources that are of from Palestine the authors are solely giving you the view from Israel. 

The authors appear to try to stay unbiased, by not criticizing Palestine, but Haaretz is an Israeli news source and not a Palestinian sources. Their point of view isn’t clearly stated and they give a lot of objective information that can’t really be argued. The authors are both Israeli, Kashti specializes in Israeli education and Ravid was a former diplomatic correspondent who served six years in the Israel Defense Force. But since the authors are both Israeli and all sources seem to be coming from Israeli points of view you strictly get the point of view of the Israelis. There are no mentions of Palestinian authorities on the subject, only that they were involved in the study. Also, other articles have indicated that while Israel felt the study was partial and unprofessional, the palestinians planned to embrace the study with the hopes of improving it's educational system.