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Monday, April 26 2004Classroom ready?A followup to the HR communique on biased children's educational materials on the Mideast conflict: When the state of Israel was created in 1948, Palestinians lost much of their land. Israel took even more territory in 1967, when Palestinian forces were humiliated in the Six Day War. For decades, Palestine has felt oppressed by Israel. In the early 1990s, Palestinian anger toward Israel began to take the form of suicide bombings, which were carried out mostly by members of a group named Hamas. Don't miss the 'answers' at the end: 4. Define oppressed. To treat people in a cruel, unjust, and hard way. You can tell they really know their stuff: 4.Who is the president of Israel? Ariel Sharon. That must be news to Moshe Katsav. How depressing that these are the people who are educating North American children on the Mideast! Comments to: info@classroomready.com UPDATE: Classroom Ready has removed the article from their site. While they consider making changes (and, hopefully, responding to the criticism sent to them), here's a copy for your perusal.
TrackBackTrackBack URL for this entry: Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Classroom ready?: CommentsWow. And that is what they teach in US schools? Just a few distortions I've seen that you haven't mentioned: The text says Yassin was killed with "as many as six missiles". It also says that "Palestinian forces were humiliated during the 1967 war". Did Palestinians have their own army, or does "Classroom ready news" consider Jordan to be a Palestinian state? The text says that only 500 Israelis were killed in suicide attacks- disregarding hundreds killed in shooting, stabbing and other attacks.
I will be advising our staff not to renew our subscription. I read Vol.3, Issue 28, gr. 8-10 and was very disappointed by poor research and lack of balance in the history. I am a strong supporter of Israel so I try to understand and compensate for that when dealing with the Middle East. I had hoped that when you are dealing with such controversial material as the Middle East, that a greater effort to reduce the complexity in a balanced manner would be made. The first paragraph alone is enough to reveal either an unprofessional level of bias or poor research. To mention that Palestinians lost land in '48, but not to mention that the Jews had to leave land they owned in British controlled Palestine is misleading (there never has been an independent Palestine; the Gaza Strip was controlled by Egypt and the West Bank was controlled by Jordan before the British Mandate). More importantly, the Arab objective was to drive every Jew into the sea and historically, nations that have been attacked have often responded by taking new boundaries that are defensible. The '67 war was not launched or fought by Palestinians. I found similar, significant problems in every paragraph. I do appreciate that you included the paragraph devoted to Mr. Levy's point of view. Omitting that the clearly stated goal of Hamas is the complete destruction of Israel (Hamas Constitution), rather than the creation of a Palestinian state, prevents students and teachers from understanding the motivation of the Israelis. I hope that, in the future, you might consider better reflecting both Palestinian and Israeli interests so that a balanced article can be written. The Palestinians are not leaving the area, and neither are the Jews. There needs to be a peaceful solution. David Katzman It was actually written for grades 5-7, not 8-10. Other errors and misrepresentations: The primer states that there have been "close to 500 Israelis" killed in suicide bombings in the last three years. According to the IDF, more than 900 Israelis have been killed since September 2002. (about 650 civilian, 300 military). The primer states that Palestinian forces were humiliated in the 1967 Six Day War. In fact the battle was between Israel and Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian forces. The primer identifies "Palestine", falsely implying the existence of a geographic entity so named. The primer expresses bias by labeling the killing of Yassin as an "assassination", although Israel's action is justified under international law. There is no mention that the United States responded to the killing of Yassin by affirming that Israel has a right to defend itself. There is no mention that in 2000 Israel offered the Palestinians a state on all of the Gaza strip and 97% of the West Bank. There's no mention that Hamas goal is the destruction of Israel, that Yassin personally approved of suicide bombings, or that their targeted victims have included schoolchildren. ISRAEL WANTS peace, not a cease-fire. The primer falsely indicates the reason Israel will not accept Palestinian refugees, and fails to indicate that a majority of Palestinians have expressed their desire for the destruction of Israel. It is bizarre that a classroom resource would be written from such a one-sided perspective. That they can't even get basic facts right is even more outrageous. One would think that, on such a controversial issue, the writers would do a LITTLE RESEARCH and at least ATTEMPT to portray a measure of balance. How about that the Charter of the PLO still states it seeks the destruction of Israel and a state from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean sea? Or that PLO television and Mosques teach kids to become suicide bombers from elementary school on? This is an email I sent to Classroomready.com... dg To whom it may concern: It has come to my attention that classroomready.com publishes 1. You write "In 1948 Palestinians lost much of their land". In 1948 The UN recognized the legitimate claim that Jewish people had on Palestine. The UN attempting to satisfying competing claims, partitioned then Palestine into two nations, one Arab and one Jewish. While the Jewish nation agreed to this compromise, the Arabs rejected it and waged war to destroy the new Jewish nation of Israel. 2. You write that "Israel took even more territory in 1967,when Palestinian forces were humiliated in the Six Day War." In 1967 the combined forces of Syria, Jordan and Egypt attacked Israel with the intent of destroying the small nation. After Israel defeated of the invading Arab armies, the areas of Gaza (owned by Egypt) and the West Bank and East Jerusalem (owned by Jordan) came under Israeli control. 3. You write that "For decades, Palestine (sic) has felt oppressed by Israel." I will assume you meant to say "Palestinians felt oppressed" rather than Palestine. You fail to mentioned that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (the precursor to the Palestinian Authority) was founded in 1964 ..three years before the Israel acquired the West Bank and Gaza. The founding for the PLO was not the negotiate a peace with Israel but instead was the "push Israel into the sea" or in laymans terms to destroy the Jewish nation. 4. You write that "Israeli president Ariel Sharon is said to have ordered the attack..." The Israeli President is Moshe Katsav. Ariel Shraon is Israel's Prime Minister. 5. You write that "Palestinians want a state that includes all the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in the war of 1967 -- which includes, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem." Again prior to 1967 Gaza was owned by Egypt, the West Bank as well as East Jerusalem was owned by Jordan, not the Palestinians. I am sure these errors were simply oversights by the author and will be corrected at the earliest possible time. Sincerely
These are great comments David. While I try to keep an unbiased opinion on all affairs, it is nice to see your constructive criticism as opposed to simply jumping to conclusions on the authors intent. Having been a writer once upon a time myself, I can appreciate that sometimes there can be oversights and unintentional biases. Hopefully they can make the necessary adjustments to educate our children with the correct facts....come to think of it, maybe I should apply for a job. I read this blog regularly. I read it with interest. I'm a little jaded. I'm not shocked, only a little bitter. This time its different, I'm horrified! This is as bad as all the press misrepresentations put together!!!!!!! We adults can argue amongst ourselves, but under us grows a new generation with a terrible bias built-in to their awareness! Its growing while we look at other things! Somehow this issue of education needs to be addressed seperately! Something major has to be done just for this issue alone. Both in America and in Europe! As much as possible must be done! David Goldman, very good comments. I like the way you ended it... I quickly sent in some primitive criticism... Dear Sir, In response to your educational website for children:
You write: When the state of Israel was created in 1948, Palestinians lost much of their land. Israel took even more territory in 1967, when Palestinian forces were humiliated in the Six Day War. For decades, Palestine has felt oppressed by Israel. In the early 1990s, Palestinian anger toward Israel began to take the form of suicide bombings, which were carried out mostly by members of a group named Hamas. I read this as one sided. Stating that Israel took even more land without giving any context is unfortunately misleading. I understand that it is extremely difficult to tell kids that the Egyption president closed the straights of Tiran etc…but you are painting Israel as the only aggressor. And were Palestinian forces humiliated in the 6 day war? I seem to recall Egyptian, Syrian, Jordanian etc forces having been defeated. You create in childrens minds the image of an independent Palestine that was taken over by Israel. Children need to know that the land was occupied by Jordan and Egypt – just as it is occupied by Israel today. You should be educating towards fostering tolerance and understanding. Instead you choose to polarise the two sides creating implicit hostility in young minds. ...it is 12:35 pm EST and the Classroom Ready News' on Hamas/Israel is still down...maybe we got them to think, reconsider and edit...? We shall see...we shall see... David I suppose I'm wading into hostile territory here, but the reaction to this thing seems overblown. Yes, the mistakes are sloppy, but the author is attempting to explain an assassination and create some context with a bit of history in 300 words, in order to get students researching and talking about an important event. As far as the historical perspective or apparent bias against Israel goes, I'd venture to say that the article reflects the prevailing view in Canada and most of Europe. Americans are obviously more sensitive about these issues and can't seem to imagine that the rest of the world might be looking at the problem in a different way. Post a comment[Comments are held for approval before appearing.]
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