Educational Resources On Israeli Conflict For Texas Students
The curriculum on Israel/Palestine, typically taught in schools, often lacks sufficient information making it misleading. Although material provides information on why Jews moved to Palestine, very little information is given students as to why Palestinians and Arab countries have objected to Israeli policies and actions. Missing from curricula is Palestinian history and what students need to know about the more than 55-year occupation, more than 15-year blockade of Gaza, and more than 75 year incessant violation of human rights, and the Nakba (catastrophe where the majority of Palestinians were forced to leave their towns and villages in 1948). To claim “to increase awareness and understanding of the Israel-Hamas war and root causes of conflict in the region” without covering the Palestinian history is to do a great disservice to Texas students – it leaves them vulnerable to misleading information about the motivations of different parties and the actual history and situation on the ground.
The Texas Coalition for Human Rights therefore proposes some alternative documents that relate much more to the “understanding of the Israel-Hamas war and root causes of conflict in the region.” They include:
Israel-Palestine Education Resources:
- Curriculum and Class Materials:
- Texas Coalition for Human Rights:
- Using Maps to Analyze U.S. Middle East Policy: https://www.txchr.org/2022-ncss-poster-presentation/
- Teaching Israel-Palestine Checklist: https://www.txchr.org/resources/Teaching-Israel-Palestine-checklist.pdf
- Teach Palestine a project of the Middle East Children’s Alliance:
- A 6th Grade Unit Based on Determined to Stay: https://teachpalestine.org/curriculum/power-and-perspective-in-palestine/
- A 6th Grade Unit Takes a Global Look at Youth Incarceration: https://teachpalestine.org/curriculum/global-look-at-youth-incarceration/
- Determined to Stay lesson plans: https://teachpalestine.org/curriculum/dts-lesson-plans/
- Borders and Walls: https://teachpalestine.org/curriculum/borders-and-walls/
- A Multiple Narratives Approach: https://teachpalestine.org/curriculum/samia-shoman/
- Amnesty International: Deconstructing Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: https://academy.amnesty.org/learn/course/external/view/elearning/239/deconstructing-israels-apartheid-against-palestinians
- Background for understanding Oct. 7, 2023:
- https://www.palestineincontext.org/
- Includes an intro video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmRPkfAN2EU&t=954s
- https://www.palestineincontext.org/
- Texas Coalition for Human Rights:
- Video Resources:
- Israeli Palestinian conflict explained: an animated introduction to Israel and Palestine: https://youtu.be/Y58njT2oXfE?si=3vqbWTIrluAUC2mP, 6:27, by Jewish Voice for Peace
- Palestine 101: Not That Complicated: https://youtu.be/rHPC8JeMJWA, 4:32, by US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
- The Israel-Palestine conflict: a brief, simple history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYZjOuUnlU, 10:18, by Vox. Put on Youtube 2016. Last statements on video: “But everyone agrees that things, as they are now, can’t last much longer – that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians is too unstable to last, and that, unless something dramatic changes whatever comes nexxt will be much worse.”
- Letting Maps Tell the Story: https://youtu.be/iH8NG0pkUbk?si=y0fWnb5DJNYfwUow&t=61, 28:41, by Texas Coalition for Human Rights
- Engaging with Israeli and Palestinian Perspectives through Primary Source Analysis: https://youtu.be/dSGlWnbCSM8, 57:43, by Texas Coalition for Human Rights
- Wrestling with Zionism: https://youtu.be/z6o36UPzO8s, 7:41, by Jewish Voice for Peace
- Audio Resources:
- War All the Time: Israel vs Palestine, 1948-82 by The MartyrMade Podcast/Darryl Cooper: https://martyrmade.substack.com/p/war-all-the-time-israel-vs-palestine
- Graphic Resources:
- Visualizing Palestine infographics: https://youtu.be/iH8NG0pkUbk
- Timeline of Violence Since 1988: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/timeline-violence-2023
- Treating Trauma Under Israeli Fire: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/treating-trauma-2023
- Childhood in Gaza: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/four-wars-old-animation, https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/four-wars-old
- Israel’s Closure of Gaza Started Long Before the Blockade: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/gaza-closure
- Gaza’s Untold Story – From Displacement to Death: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/gaza-refugee-deaths
- So Close Yet So Far: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/so-close-yet-so-far
- Sovereignty Affect Every Item on this Table: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/food-sovereignty
- Spot the Difference: Israeli vs. Palestinian Cellphone Coverage: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/3g-cellphone-coverage
- Killing the Story: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/killing-the-story
- Funder or Censor: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/funder-or-censor
- Visualizing Palestine infographics: https://youtu.be/iH8NG0pkUbk
- Interactive Resources:
- B’Tselem (Israeli Human Rights organization): Conquer and Divide: interactive project https://conquer-and-divide.btselem.org/map-en.html
- Zochrot (Israeli NGO dedicated to sharing historical information about the Palestinian Nakba including the documentation and history of villages and towns from which Palestinians were forced: Nakba Map: https://www.zochrot.org/villages/nakba_map/en?Nakba_Map
- Films: (Note that occupation is violent – films recommended only for older students)
- 1948 – Creation & Catastrophe: https://www.1948movie.com/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_Q2t5r5o_k, 1:25:30
- Occupation 101: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/occupation-101
- Gaza Fights for Freedom (About the Great March of Return): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnZSaKYmP2s (1:23:57)
- The Occupation of the American Mind: https://www.occupationmovie.org/
2018 Texas Educational Standards
Click here to see how in 2018, The Texas Coalition for Human Rights worked to change the standards and related curriculum.