>From the report on Israeli textbooks: "Three fundamental statements can be made about all the school books:
a. The legitimacy of the State of Israel as independent Jewish state on the territory of the Land of Israel and the immigration of Jews to the country are never questioned. b. There is no indoctrination against the Arabs as a nation, nor a negative presentation of Islam. Rather, Islam, the Arab culture and the Arabs' contribution to human civilization are presented in a positive light. c. No book calls for violence or war. Many books express the yearning for peace between Israel and the Arab countries. "However, there is no unanimity between the authors with regard to the factors, motives of both sides and the development of events in the conflict, or regarding the ways for ending it and the price Israel and the Arabs should pay for peace. This reflects the fact that Israeli society comprises a broad spectrum of conceptions, views and lifestyles." Contrast that with the vicious anti-semitic lies the report finds in the Palestinian textbooks, including actual and absolute, hateful, disgusting lies about Judaism, the Torah and the Talmud, and constant calls for Israel to be destroyed. And Israel is supposed to make peace with these people? Israel is supposed to trust them? Well...yes. Israel has no choice. But it is very easy for rich, fat, comfortable, safe Europeans to castigate Israel; it's not so easy for Israel to deal with an implacably hostile neighbor. If this were, say, a dispute between, oh, I don't know, say, Belgium and Holland, and the Belgians had a philosophy denying the Dutch the right to exist and were constantly spreading horrible lies about the Dutch, and the rest of the world were screaming at the Dutch to make peace, would the Dutch feel as if the rest of the world were being fair? I'm just asking. Tom Beck "I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I didn't realize I'd also see the last." - Jerry Pournelle
