For years, one could hear the claim that Palestinian textbooks teach children to hate Jews, erase Israel and glorify violence.
Some of that criticism is real; Palestinian textbooks have serious problems.
But a 2013 U.S. State Department-funded study by researchers from Yale University, Tel Aviv University and Bethlehem University found that extreme demonization and dehumanization were rare in both Palestinian and Israeli textbooks.
The Forward described it at the time as the first scientific analysis of incitement in Israeli and Palestinian textbooks. The researchers said an international team of schoolbook analysts confirmed that the study met the highest scientific standards.
It examined 94 Palestinian books and 74 Israeli books, with bilingual Israeli and Palestinian researchers analyzing the materials over three years.
What the study found was that both sides largely teach unilateral national narratives. Each side presents itself as defensive, righteous and peace-seeking, while the other side appears mostly as violent, threatening or illegitimate.
And on maps, the Israeli books had the higher erasure rate on that specific metric: 76% of Israeli textbook maps showed the whole land between the river and the sea as Israel, with no Palestinian Authority and no Green Line. In Palestinian textbooks, 58% showed the whole land as Palestine, with no Israel.
The Israeli government rejected the study, which is not exactly shocking given what the study found about a talking point Israeli officials and pro-Israel advocates have used for years.
Palestinian textbooks deserve scrutiny. But so do Israeli textbooks, because the version many of us were taught, that this was uniquely and overwhelmingly a Palestinian sickness, was incomplete at best. See less
Sources:
1. Forward article by Naomi Zeveloff, February 4, 2013: “Palestinian Textbooks Don’t Vilify Jews, New Study Reveals”:
2. Original 2013 study report PDF: “Victims of Our Own Narratives?” Portrayal of the “Other” in Israeli and Palestinian School Books, by Sami Adwan, Daniel Bar-Tal and Bruce Wexler:
3. Later peer-reviewed journal article based on the same study:
The study was funded by the U.S. State Department and conducted by researchers from Bethlehem University, Tel Aviv University and Yale University.
Michael McLaughlin
Michael McLaughlin
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