by Asa Winstanley

This Israeli government propaganda broadcast (the Israeli Broadcasting Authority interviewing Miri Eisen, a government spokesperson), from July 17 is quite revealing for a couple of reasons.

Firstly regarding “moderate Arab countries”. This phrase is often used in the Western media, and by Western politicians, but what does it actually mean? This broadcast is a good example of how “moderate” is in fact a codeword for “subservient to our interests”. What is Eisen’s example of a “moderate Arab country”? Saudi Arabia! A country with an absolute monarchy, of fundamentalist religious character which tortures prisoners, forces couples to divorce, silences internal dissent and executes children and women is characterised as “moderate”. Why? One can only assume it has something to do with the fact that the regime is a loyal ally of to Western policy, propped-up by the British and US governments.

Secondly, and more subtly, the mention of “removing illegal outposts” as part of a political agreement with “the Palestinians”, presumably Abbas and his unelected PA cabinet. “Illegal outposts” refers to settlements established in the West Bank which have not been officially approved by the Israeli government (and hence illegal even under Israeli law). What Eisen fails to mention is that the vast majority of settlements are large, built-up, government-funded affairs. The population of the “outposts” consists of a small — but vocal — minority of Jewish religious fundamentalists. It is noteworthy that despite their illegal status under Israeli law, even these outposts are protected by the Israeli military (the settlers themselves are of course armed too). International law, on the other hand, makes no distinction between “outposts” and other settlements. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the occupying power to transfer citizens from its own territory to the occupied territory (Article 49).

In an interview with Israeli Television broadcast in the US on Mosaic on Link TV, Carter reiterated his view that persecution, separation, occupation, confiscation and colonization equal apartheid.

According to the Israel Broadcast Association, “a political firestorm has erupted following the decision of education minister Yuli Tamir to restore the Green Line (pre-1967 border) to Israeli text books”.

[Source: Israel Broadcast Association: Via Mosaic on Link TV.]

The amount of grief given to Palestinians over issues concerning their textbooks has been extraordinary. The Jewish Virtual Library devotes a special section to Palestinian textbooks and incitement and includes 12 extensive studies.

According to Miftah, The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue & Democracy:

Studies of Palestinian textbooks have revealed that any strong anti-Israel and anti-Semitic material in the curriculum comes from books that the Palestinians did not author and are replacing. (Ironically, these same books that were actually authored by Jordanians and Egyptians were distributed by Israel in east Jerusalem after only removing the cover.) Furthermore, books that were written by the Palestinian Authority in 1994, 2000, and 2001 are free of such material.

And the controversy in Israel is whether to even put the West Bank and Gaza into the textbooks. The minister is being accused of “wiping out 1/5 of the Jewish land that has served as the cradle of Jewish history.” The Jewish land to which they refer is the West Bank and Gaza.