First let me clarify that I writing about children books in general and not specifically about "Three Wishes"
The following is in regard to Bernard Katz's statement: "Israel bears some (by no means all) of the direct and indirect responsibility for their suffering. This so patently obvious that I think it unnecessary to go into details." 1. As a Jew, Israeli, and Human Being, I have absolutely no guilt feelings regarding the suffering of the Palestinians. Yes, Israel, like all nations, is not perfect, but it is the Palestinians who have to take total blame for their situation. In all aspects they have "missed the boat". It is very difficult for me to find one positive thing they have done as a nation. The Jewish People throughout our history have suffered terribly, but our energies have been directed to bettering ourselves and contributing to civilization and not to find blame in others or to blow others up. 2. What I am trying to point out is that we, as librarians and educators, must not hide the fact that there are Palestinian refugees or that people lost their homes because of war, but we must explain it within a framework which gives the complete picture from our point of view. When we bring up these situations it should be "us" and not the "Ellises" who influence our children. My heart also breaks for the suffering of the Palestinian children, but not because of Israel policies, but because of Palestinian policies, actions, or lack of action. To discuss Palestinian suffering without first discussing Palestinian leadership (or lack of), for example, is basically an emotional exercise. 3. We must not forget that we are in conflict with the Palestinians, fighting terrorism is war, and in war people suffer. "Conflict solution" has not worked, so now we are entering the period of "conflict management" trying to keeping the suffering on both side down to a minimum, while making sure that we in Israel live as normal a life as possible. Normal life for the Palestinians is the responsibility of the Palestinian leadership (burning of the British Council in Gaza yesterday is an example of making their "normal life" more difficult.)." 4. I repeat, with limited budgets, let's be very selective to which books we expose our children, and very careful as to how we expose them to what Bernard calls "certain uncomfortable facts" and which I call "facts out of context". David David Elazar Rishon LeZion, Israel [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.geocities.com/d_elazar (home page) eVoicemail (413) 581-4711 (USA) eFax (801) 672-2976 (USA) Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
