Thank you for publishing Harold Evans's excellent article on teaching Palestinian children to hate ["Poisoning Minds in Bethlehem," Special Year-End Issue]. Watching videos of children being indoctrinated by TV programs, cartoons, teachers, and school books (even kindergarteners) is truly frightening. It never ceases to amaze me that the pro Palestinian lobby is so focused on demonizing Israel that it cannot see the reality of who should shoulder the blame for the longevity and the lack of progress in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. For the past 60 years, Israel has tried to make peace with an unwilling partner. As rockets again rain down in southern Israel, it really is time for the U.N., the European Union, and the people who support the Palestinians to take a reality check and start promoting peace, not further hatred fed by lies and misinformation.
In his incisive editorial, Evans has pointed out the greatest obstacle to a true Israeli-Arab or Israeli-Palestinian peace, namely the indoctrination from an early age of Palestinian Arab children with an overwhelming hatred of Jews. As long as the schools teach that Jews are less than human, the Arab students when they reach maturity will not tolerate the presence of a Jewish state in the region. No amount of concessions on the part of Israel will suffice with this endemic hatred inculcated into Palestinian Arab children. Without a 180-degree reversal in educational policy, there is no chance for any lasting peace in the region and conflict will continue to fester.
Evans presents a cogent, comprehensive, and chilling analysis on the "corruption of children's minds." This is a shocking form of child abuse; teaching Palestinian children that "martyrdom is bliss" and inculcating hatred of Israel through "educational" videos and TV programs featuring faux Disney characters. Mahmoud Abbas, the putative "moderate" Fatah leader, controls Palestinian national television and is complicit in disseminating the heinous indoctrination to hate life and ultimately to kill infidels. This "mental deformation" makes a mockery of the West's indefatigable, but regrettably futile, efforts to finalize an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
