Thursday, December 8, 2011

Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education

Dear friends,
as you will no doubt be aware, Israel and their Zionist supporters around the world have repeatedly raised a hue and cry about the content of Palestinian school books.  Very little has ever been said about the content of Israeli school text books.  While it occassionally has been discussed in the Israeli media, very little about it has been said outside of Israel. 

Recently, Israeli Professor Nurit Peled-Elhanan completed a study on the depiction of Palestinians and Palestine in Israeli school tex books. Her study will be published in an upcoming book called Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education. 

Nurit Peled-Elhanan argues that her study shows that the textbooks used in the Israeli school system are laced with a pro-Israel ideology and that they play a part in priming Israeli children for military service.    As part of her study, she analysised the presentation of images, maps, layouts and use of language in History, Geography and Civic Studies textbooks.  She discusses how the books might be seen to marginalize Palestinians, legitimize Israeli military action and reinforce Jewish-Israeli territorial identity.

In the following interview (28mins in length) with Alternate Focus, she discusses her study.

In solidarity, Kim

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