A call for help, part 2

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Permalink Reply by Yigal D. Kahana on June 25, 2008 at 8:26pm

Good Lord, Noa,
What excuse could there possibly be for letting the curriculum be provided by Jordan or the PA/Hamas?
Why haven't the Israelis stepped up with their own curriculum?
That is, if they're supposed to be providing any services there, education (especially teaching peaceful coexistence) should be #1 on the list!

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Permalink Reply by Yigal D. Kahana on June 25, 2008 at 9:55pm

Eva,
I'd tell those residents that they need to get real.
(I have had occasion to tell that to more than a few Israelis.)
For that matter, I've long been amazed by the fact that Israeli figures don't visit Arab towns, and neighborhoods - if only for cynical PR reasons. Even if it would be too dangerous in Shuafat, why not Abu Ghosh? They're morons for that and a million other reasons.
Will the next government really be any smarter?

Permalink Reply by Noa D on June 25, 2008 at 10:12pm

Well, it isn't that simple. First of all, schools in the west bank go according to Jordanian curricula. So accepting Israeli curricula in East Jerusalem schools would mean recognition of Israeli annexation which is problematic to say the least in the eyes of east Jeruslemites. This is from the Ir Amim report from the link I posted above:
"The public education system of any society constitutes the most direct, comprehensive and ongoing connection between the citizenry and the State. In the case of East Jerusalem, public education must mediate between a population of over 230,000 Palestinians, who are permanent residents of Jerusalem – not Israeli citizens – and the State of Israel, which does not accept them, and which they do not accept, as their own. Over the years, many wise compromises were made regarding the content and supervision of the education system of the Palestinians in East Jerusalem, in order to manage this complex reality and to allow for the education of a generation of children by a State whose authority over their lives is in dispute. The most prominent of these compromises was the decision to incorporate the Jordanian, and subsequently the Palestinian, school curriculum in the public school system of Jerusalem. This anomaly allowed the Palestinian population to preserve their national identity in a manner that was not detrimental to the Israeli interest."

There is alot of truth in this, I think. There is a connection between school curricula and citizenship. What would the civic studies ("ezrachut") program look like in east Jerusalem? And what about history?

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Permalink Reply by Yigal D. Kahana on June 25, 2008 at 10:27pm

I agree that there is a lot of truth in that.
There is also a lot of falseness in it.

As long as Israel is responsible for administration of the area,
it has a responsibility it may abdicate. If you say Israel never should have undertaken to administer that area, fine. But that is different, and moot, argument. It did. And it must do so as best possible. There's a glaring conflict of purposes if Israel is complicit in the teaching of anti-Israel material, which no amount of academic double-speak can cover up.
I would respectfully disagree with the glib conclusion that
"This anomaly allowed the Palestinian population to preserve their national identity in a manner that was not detrimental to the Israeli interest."
Both of those claims can hardly be true. You must know that as well.

I will gladly tell you what I believe an Ezrachut program, and history, should look like in E. JErusalem, but who else would care?
Let's do that in messages so as not to take up too much space here.
Peace.

Permalink Reply by Hiba on June 25, 2008 at 6:46pm

In my university where I studied Noa a big number of East Jerusalem students studies there. They come to study in Palestinian Universities as it is hard for many of them to apply in an Israeli universities.

Another thing I discovered, is that they deal with their personal identity card as it equals their whole lives, and they shouldn't miss it in any case or otherwise they will face terrible problems in entering Jerusalem back to their homes. Besides being hard for them to get another one instead of the one that they've lost from the Israeli authorities.

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Permalink Reply by Noa D on June 25, 2008 at 8:33pm

I'm not sure it is hard to apply, but I know it is hard to be accepted, and afterwards, they have to go through the checkpoints which can take hours, even if when you look at the map, it looks like they live very close to university.... I remember I had a student once from east Jerusalem, he had to leave home at 5 in the morning to get to the lesson at 8:30, while one of my fellow teachers who lived in Pisgat Ze'ev- physically (without barriers...) 5 minutes away from him- could leave for work at 8:15 and get there on time. It is awful. I also know that many people go to study in Jordan as well, also because of these dificulties.
And the ID card is a huge problem, I know. Jerusalem residents have to prove Jerusalem is the "center of life", even if they go study abroad... and also, even though as residents they can presumably live anywhere in Israel that they want, the ministry of internal affairs won't change their address so they can't get local services where they live (like health care for example).
I know this probably is no conciliation and it doesn't make up for these terrible stories but there are various Israeli legal organizations that are constantly fighting to change the situation. 30% of petitions to the supreme court are filed against the ministry of internal affairs which on the one hand shows that something is very wrong about the way they run things but on the other hand shows that there are people that are trying to change the situation.

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Permalink Reply by Max S on July 7, 2008 at 11:20pm

Hi guys when do you think we should do more on this story and what should we do. We are useless if we jsut do something once.

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Permalink Reply by Max S on July 8, 2008 at 12:08pm

What a pity I cannot join it. Who is organising the rally? Maybe you should invite Ahmed.

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Permalink Reply by Noa D on July 8, 2008 at 4:49pm

I got an invite, too, from Bat Shalom. I sent the person I got the email from a link to this very discussion, and asked her to spread it around, so people could read about it.
Maybe Bassam (Aramin) will be able to find out how Ahmed is doing?

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Permalink Reply by Corey Gil-Shuster on December 7, 2008 at 4:48pm

Just an update.

17-year-old who beat Arabs sent to jail

Youth convicted of assaulting Arab minors with sticks, clubs and knives at Jerusalem mall on eve of Holocaust Day, sentenced to one year in prison. Attack followed messages on Web calling on Jews to hurt Arabs

A 17-year-old youth was sentenced to one year in prison on Sunday after being convicted of assaulting Arabs with sticks, clubs and knives along with several other teenagers on the eve of Holocaust Day.

"I can't imagine that throughout his life the accused never heard of the Jews' Holocaust and was never exposed to the horrors in the pursuit of people for belonging to a different race," the Jerusalem Youth District Court wrote in her ruling.

According to the indictment, several young people of the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood in the capital conspired to hurt Arabs on the eve of the past Holocaust Day.

The plan was distributed verbally and on the Web – through the ICQ instant messaging software – and Jewish youths were urged to hurt Arabs. The message reached a large number of teenagers, who arrived at the neighborhood's mall and began beating Arab minors.

The youth confessed to the acts as part of a plea bargain, and was convicted by Judge Nava Ben-Or of causing sabotage under aggravating circumstances motivated by racism.

The plea bargain did not state a punishment, and despite a recommendation to put the youth on probation, the justice decided to send him to jail for one year.

'A regretful and shameless phenomenon'
The judge said she could not imagine that the defendant's high school did not teach him about the history of the Jewish people and the Holocaust. She stressed in the sentence that "the fact the accused did not internalize these issues raises difficult thought about an extensive education failure and entails a thorough examination."

According to the judge, the offense committed is extremely severe and the youth's desire to serve in the IDF cannot serve as a consideration for avoiding a conviction.

The justice added that only a prison term will express the extent of aversion over the minor's act. "Only such a punishment will be enough to deter other young people.

"We have witnessed a regretful and shameless phenomenon of extensive willingness to take part in a racially motivated violent event, without any reservation or thought," the judge wrote.

She sentenced the youth to an additional year of probation and ordered him to pay each of his victims NIS 500 ($125.25).

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Permalink Reply by Noa D on December 7, 2008 at 4:54pm

thanks for the update Correy, this is really important. I hope the rioters from Hebron will be held to justice as soon as possible as well.

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Permalink Reply by Max S on December 7, 2008 at 4:55pm

Thanks for the update Corey. I shall be out there shortly so I shall visit Ahmed. Where did you find this out? Cheers.

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