Israel defends policies in occupied areas

Press, 17 November 1976, Page 8

Israel defends policies in occupied areas

NZPA Nairobi Israel has defended its educational and cultural policies in the Arab areas it occupied during the 1967 Middle East war. having been accused at the Unesco conference in Nairobi byArab and other countries of erasing the cultural identity [of those regions. A resolution being considered by a commission of Unesco accuses the Israelis of violating human rights, particularly through the “systematic Judaisation” of educational and cultural life in the occupied territories. The resolution, supported by 30 Arab and African [countries, was described as defective in its legal and moral validity by the senior Israeli delegate (Professor

tilAvineri) who read a news-1 paper report quoting Presi-| S ;dent Sadat of Egypt as say-j l_ ing that he was prepared to L sign a peace treaty if Israel! ' withdrew from the occupied! 8 territories. o' “If President Sadat’s statey ment ’ reflects a genuine if desire for peace, negotiay tions,” Professor Avineri said, “resolutions such as I- this do not help. I urge our f neighbours not to use thisi s forum simply to obtain an-! other sterile condemnation' e of Israel". f He defended Israel’s pole icies in the Arab territories, by pointing out that since i d 1967 the number of schools nhas been increased from 827 s to 971: the number of pupils' difrom 142,000 to 225.000; and rthe education budget, from.' rl£lsraeii2sM to £lsraelil63M.

•I “The education authorities jin Israel are in constant • touch with their counterparts in Egypt and Jordan 'on the curriculum and on • examination entrance reliquirements to universities ’in the two Arab States,” the professor said. “In addition, higher educational institutions have been established for the first time. Israel has agreed to a Unesco fact-finding mission [visiting the occupied areas Ito report on the cultural and ■educational policies of which we are proud.” Egypt's delegate replied that the issue was not a question of figures and statistics, but of “the burying of a complete culture,” and he added: “Israel’s policies are aimed at integrating a territ|ory which is not its own.”