• by IPS Correspondents (jerusalem)
• Thursday, December 22, 1994
• Inter Press Service

JERUSALEM, Dic 22 (IPS) - Efforts by the international community to bring the Arab and Jewish communities closer together through joint projects are not going down well among some Arab intellectuals who feel their culture may be under threat.

Opponents to the joint projects who are also opposed to the peace process, have been holding a series of workshops in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and the fledgling Palestinian state at which they constantly speak of the likely negative consequences of normalising relations with Israel.

At the conclusion of each workshop, they have also adopted the radical recommendation to boycott any Arab intellectual who has cooperated with an Israeli counterpart.

Since Israel's establishment in 1948, Arab countries imposed an effective political, social, economic and cultural boycott against Israel.

Dr. Adel Al-Ostah, professor of Arabic Literature at An-Najah University in Nablus and Dr. Azmi Bishara, professor of philosophy at Birzeit University, charge that what the Israelis would like to do is rewrite Arab history.

They charge that Israel would even like to go as far as to change the educational curriculum to the point where any reference to the Palestinian peoples' rights, as well as history of struggle, will disappear.

According to Bishara, the Israelis are working on changing the context of the Arabic language through adding terminologies such as the 'New Middle East' instead of the Arab World.

Bishara said that Israel's intention is to create Palestinian 'Cantons', which would allow Palestinians only minute geographic areas, amounting to just one per cent of Palestine's original land.

But supporters of the peace process argue that these joint projects, mainly sponsored by the European Union and the United States will largely be beneficial to future relations between the Arab world and the Jewish community.

According to one Palestinian writer, who preferred to remain anonymous, these cultural and academic projects go a long way not only to fostering better relations, but open the door to joint business ventures.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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