I’m pretty pessimistic these days. I don’t think the Hamas policy will have any effect other than ingrain formly the grassroots support for Hamas’ violent wing (there is a political wing as well, which actually does do important relief work in the terroriitories for Palestinians sufferring under occupation).

Overall its possible to see all-out war on Hamas as a jump-the-shark moment. Expect Israel’s security to worsen, cost to rise, economy to further weaken, US aid to increase, settlers to be more extreme, and public opinion to harden.

The article doesn’t pass the smell test. The results are entirely too pat - all 84 of the kids hate Arabs? - and I can’t imagine a competent social scientist making the blanket conclusions that the article attributed to the researcher. I also can’t imagine a social scientist conducting his interviews after a suicide bombing rather than spacing them out over time (or at least using a control group). If it isn’t a fabrication, it’s bad research.

The World Net Daily article mentions that Asi Sharabi’s research was published in an Israeli newspaper in 2001. If anyone has a citation, maybe that will resolve the issue. Sharabi’s e-mail address is asi@mail.jct.ac.il

For the record, here’s an article on an Israeli children’s television network that concentrates on attacking stereotypes, including stereotypes of Arabs. And on the textbook issue, here’s a summary of a report, authored jointly by an Israeli and a Palestinian professor, finding that both sides have improved but both still have a long way to go.

Thanks for the links.

You might also like this Washington Report article. It’s a little old (1999,) but informative. You can also read a rundown of it on my blog.

Mad Prophet: I’ve seen the Washington Report article. It suffers from the same problem as the allegations about Palestinian textbooks - i.e., it largely fails to take into account the changes that have taken place in Israeli education during and after the Rabin administration. Some of the textbooks introduced in Israel during the 1990s are described here. The Washington Report article, to a great extent, treats the period since 1967 as a single era and ignores the various sea changes in Israeli society since then.

I have no doubt that there are some Israeli children who hate Arabs, as there are Arab children who hate Israelis. 55 years of conflict is not without brutalizing effects on both sides. Anyone who believes that a majority of Israeli parents are systematically turning their kids into hate machines, however, is laboring under a very stereotypical view of Israelis. There are plenty of Israeli parents on the net if you’re interested in what they’re really thinking. I’d recommend this one to start - she’s a working mother of two and not a lefty by any means, but her views on Arabs will surprise anyone with stereotypical expectations. Her articles about Arabs are often regretful but never hateful and sometimes very sensitive. Her daughters won’t grow up to hate Arabs, and she’s a lot more typical in that regard than you probably think.

Apparently, the study did take place, and the “ugly with torn clothes” and “disgusting Muhammad, I want you to die” quotes are real. The La Voz article also mentions one child who wanted Arabs to die and not enjoy eternal life, and one who wrote “stop throwing stones or Sharon will kill you all.”

The other quotes listed in the Arab News article, however, are not mentioned. Nor does Sharabi make the conclusion (attributed to him by the Arab News) that “all Israeli children believe that Arabs are bad and Israelis are good.” Instead, he says that some Israeli children hate Arabs and others don’t, that urban children (i.e., those who live in greatest fear of terror attacks) are more likely to hate Arabs while more kibbutz children seek dialogue, and that the source of the hatred is fear rather than “Zionist thought develop[ing] day by day.” There is no mention of an Arab girl who wants Israelis to be her friends.

The La Voz article, at least to my mind, rings much truer than the Arab News piece, and the World Net Daily allegations of fabrication and alteration seem credible. The La Voz story also indicates that results of the study were published in Ma’ariv “the previous Friday” which would be 24 August 2001. The Ma’ariv article will probably have the most complete information; I’ll look for it the next time I’m at the library.