monk222 | Boundaries

JERUSALEM, Dec. 5 -- Maps in future Israeli public school textbooks will show the boundary that existed between Israel and the West Bank before the 1967 Middle East war, Israel's education minister announced Tuesday. The move drew sharp protest from lawmakers, settler groups and religious leaders who claim the West Bank as part of the Jewish state.

-- Scott Wilson for The Washington Post

Very interesting. Yuli Tamir, the minister in question, says that this is in response to the way the Palestinians will not show Israel on their maps, as though seeking to develop a fund of good faith and mutual concessions. Other Israelis are more suspicious:

"In general, I'm not against giving all the information there is to students," said Shaul Goldstein, head of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of Jerusalem. "On the other hand, it's obvious she is doing this for political reasons, to educate our youth that 'this land is not ours.' "

And the Olmert government's position is thus:

Olmert, whose governing coalition includes Labor as its largest member, said after meeting with Tamir that "there is no reason not to mark the Green Line and where the borders of the country were in 1967," according to the Ynetnews Web site.

"But there is a duty to present the fact that the government's stance and the consensus in the country rule out returning to the 1967 borders," Olmert added.

I am only wondering how long it will be before Palestinians show any Israel on their maps. But I am not holding my breath.

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