The Only Democracy? » Entries tagged with "Education"
“What Compels You to Do That?”: Teaching English As Activism in Hebron
By Rebecca Kirzner I teach English in Hebron. There. It’s said. The seemingly innocuous statement that generates an onslaught of questions, quizzical looks, and widened eyes. To be fair, it’s the type of statement that one does not often hear from a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey, living in Jerusalem. “What compels you to do that?” The question always catches me off-guard. What doesn’t compel me to do that? I teach students … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
Gaza Students Can’t Study in Gaza, Can’t Leave
From Gisha’s Gaza Gateway Between March 1 and March 5, 2010, the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was open, and 4427 people passed through the crossing, including 461 students. Of these students, 100 were returned to Gaza by the Egyptians either because Egypt believed that they would seek to remain in Egypt, or because they were missing the requisite exit documents. According to the latest information, 502 students are presently seeking to leave the Gaza Strip in order to realize their dreams and study in universities abroad. Yet why do students in Gaza aspire to study outside the Strip? Among the reasons is the fact that in Gaza it is not possible to study certain fields, such as dentistry, occupational … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
At-Tuwani: Where Walking to School is An Act of Resistance
Here is another report from the Christian Peacemaker Team, who look out after the children in the area of the At-Tuwani village in the southern Hebron hills as they try to make their way to school. Once again, the Israeli military fails to patrol the children as they are required to do to protect them from attacks by adult settlers. And once again, the children and their parents manage to overcome the dangers and make … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
Declaration of Human Rights Too “Problematic” for Israeli Schoolchildren
In a related post, below, we learned about the militarization of education for Israeli children, including homework sheets filled with sketches of tanks and other weaponry as a method of learning to count and be indoctrinated at the same time. Now we learn that the same Israeli Department of Education which promoted the militarization of schools has taken quick action to keep certain rights enumerated in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights from troubling the minds of settler children. The Ariel municipality had bought as gifts for kindergarten children in the settlements hundreds of copies of the book, “We are all Born Free–the Human Rights Declaration in Pictures.” The book was published in a prestigious edition together with the Amnesty organization. Among the dozens of pages are 30 illustrations by leading world artists, who were asked to simplify the sections of the declaration to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Israeli Schoolchildren Learn to Count with Tanks
By Sergeiy Sandler In January 2010, an official UN body determined for the first time that the militarization of Israel’s government-run school system was in violation of the International Convention of the Rights of the Child and, in particular, of Israel’s implementation of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC), to which it is a signatory. Unprecedented … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Villages Group: Yasmin Opens the Braille Little Oxford Dictionary
by Assaf Oron. Yasmin Gebara is a very special young woman from the village of Salem near Nablus. Yasmin is blind from birth. In September 2004, Yasmin’s father Saael, a taxi driver, was killed in cold blood by a settler who later managed to escape the country before going to prison. Last month as Yasmin graduated from Nablus University with an English major, we sent an email asking for donations of English literature CD’s, and possibly a … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
Interactive Video
“You have a choice! Israeli Anti-Militarists Speak”
Four Israelis—Dorothy Naor, Sergeiy Sander and Eli Fabrikant, and Ofer Golani—talking about their personal histories, political views and activism in 132 short films.