July 25, Sanaa Ghanim, SMU Human Rights student, for a piece criticizing the Texas state K-12 curriculum for what she believes is its biased presentation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Published in the Houston Chronicle: http://bit.ly/2GtBYJL
The Texas state curriculum for high school social studies leaves students with the impression that conflict in the Middle East boils down to this: The Palestinians are the bad guys, and the Israelis are the good guys.
The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies used to require that public school teachers “explain how Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing conflict.”
In November, the Texas State Board of Education softened that a bit, changing the requirement to “discuss factors contributing to the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the rejection of the existence of the State of Israel by the Arab League and a majority of Arab nations.”
By Sanaa Ghanim
The Texas state curriculum for high school social studies leaves students with the impression that conflict in the Middle East boils down to this: The Palestinians are the bad guys, and the Israelis are the good guys.
The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies used to require that public school teachers “explain how Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing conflict.”
In November, the Texas State Board of Education softened that a bit, changing the requirement to “discuss factors contributing to the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the rejection of the existence of the State of Israel by the Arab League and a majority of Arab nations.”
When my family travels back to the West Bank, we are always under suspicion.
I am restricted from traveling into Israel through the Tel Aviv airport. As a Palestinian, I am forced to go through the checkpoints put forth by Israel. These checkpoints require extensive and unnecessary searches that can take hours to get through.
“The Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People,” passed in July 2018, described the Israeli state as being only for the Jewish people. This law dismisses Palestinians’ existence and right to legal recognition as citizens of the country.
Israel’s separation barrier, or wall, restricts Palestinians from leaving the West Bank/Gaza. Many Palestinians call it the “apartheid wall.” Additionally, there are more than 700 barriers restricting movement of Palestinians within the West Bank itself.
This isn’t about Palestinians “rejecting” the State of Israel as much as it is about Israelis rejecting the basic human rights of Palestinians.
Reducing the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an issue of “Arab rejection,” as the Texas State Board of Education continues to do, dismisses Israel’s human rights violations. These include civilian killings, building illegal settlements, and restricting the human rights to water, health and sanitation.
A better curriculum — like any attempt at Palestinian-Israeli peace — must address the human rights and dignity of all individuals within the conflict.
Nation states do not have the right to exist. People have the right to exist.
Ghanim is a senior in the Southern Methodist University Human Rights Program, where she is researching the role of education in shaping perceptions of the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She enters law school in August 2020, and plans to concentrate on international law.