Sunday, November 11, 2012

How to Teach American Students about the Arab-Israel Conflict, Angry-Arab Style

According to Prof. AbuKhalil, he teaches a class on the Arab-Israel conflict:

Friday, November 02, 2012

Balfour Declaration
When I was an undergraduate student at the American University of Beirut, I took a most memorable course on the West and the Middle East with Walid Khalidi (by far one of the most effective teachers). He once spent a class analyzing and dissecting the text of the Balfaour Declaration and his analysis never left me. I still do the same on my classes on the Arab-Israeli conflict.



If you wish to have an idea what kind of classes this professor teaches to young impressionable American students you can get it from a mere cursory look at the textual product of his mental processes as displayed in his blog: Angry Arab News Service.

Here is one typical example:

"Israeli terrorism continues unabated" declares Prof. AbuKhalil, who, let me remind you again, teaches a class on the Arab-Israel conflict. His post then goes on to explain: "The mother of Ahmed Abu Dagah, who was killed by gunfire from Israeli forces, mourns during his funeral in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip."

When you click on the link he provides, you see a series of "pietas", of the sad sight of a mother hugging her dead child's body. How can such a sight fail to move any body's heart? What can be sadder than a mother mourning her dead child, killed by violence?

If you continue to scroll down, finally you arrive at some text, that provides some context to the photo:

" Gunfire from Israeli forces killed the Palestinian boy, Abu Dagah, in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, local medics said, during border clashes between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants. Israeli military officials said soldiers who were engaged in "routine activity" adjacent to the security fence came under attack from Palestinian militants and responded "by firing at suspicious locations
".

You will notice how the text is carefully laconic and lacking in detail. So here are the details:

"The fire followed a border attack that saw terrorists launch an anti-tank missile at an IDF patrol near Karni crossing. Two soldiers were seriously wounded and two others were moderately injured."

" The IDF confirmed the incident's details: "An anti-tank missile was fired at an IDF force on routine patrol near the security fence in northern Gaza Strip. Four soldiers were wounded as a result. IDF forces returned fire.


"The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians or IDF soldiers and will continue to fight any element which employs terror against the State of Israel.


"The Hamas terror group is responsible for any such acts," the statement said."


So the story is not quite as simple as Prof. AbuKhalil would have you believe, if you take his word as the source of your information. With this as a model, what do you imagine his class on the Arab-Israel conflict consists in*?

*  A tiny hint: AA's positions can be fairly accurately guessed at from the cute little titles he gives his posts.

1 Comments:

At 8:04 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, facts are such an intrusion...

http://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/israel-under-fire-the-new-paradigm/

K2K

 

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