Last update - 19:41 05/12/2006
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent
An organization of right-wing rabbis on Tuesday issued a Halakhic decree forbidding students from using schoolbooks featuring maps of Israel which include the pre-1967 Green Line border, 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.
MK Ronit Tirosh (Kadima), formerly the Director-General of the Education Ministry, also criticized Tamir, saying that she does not possess the authority to issue such an order.
"The education minister in not permitted to interfere with the content of textbooks, and should also have consulted the other members of the Knesset before making such changes," Tirosh said Tuesday.
Professor Yoram Bar-Gal, head of Geography and Environmental Studies at Haifa University, said Tamir's directive to bring the Green Line back to the maps would be hard to follow. He said that most of the textbooks are issued by private publishers who would not be keen on changing the plates at their expense.
Two years ago Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan, a lecturer in language and education at Hebrew University, published research on six study books that had been published after the Oslo agreement. Some of these books were officially endorsed by the Education Ministry. Many teachers adopted other books even without the ministry's approval.
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.
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2 comments:
You probably already know of this one, but I just saw it.
http://www.zerodegreesofseparation.com/
A woman in this documentary, tells us that violence against women by Israeli soldiers had recently been sanctioned by the courts.
In short, a soldier argued that the "trauma" of being exposed to daily violence as a soldier, prompted him to engage in domestic violence.
The Israeli courts accepted this argument!
There is a Jewish man who is so courageous in this, he confronts soldiers that would normally get anyone else locked up and tortured by asking them simple questions wich they can only respond to as "following orders".
He "apologizes" and says "he means no disrespect" to them, before he makes the comment, "that's what germans said".
I think it's true most Israelis would like peace, but the government keeps them all in a 24/7 state of fear, hysteria, anxiety, and panic. Gee, that kinda sounds familiar.
Although the movie is about gay/lesbian couples in Israel, there is so much more. I've seen the "wall" movie, very good, and this film also touches deep.
Great commentary and link. Thanks.
http://www.zerodegreesofseparation.com/
Best,
Marc
CCNWON
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