November 26, 2012

Gaza Hasbara for UK children on BBC's Newsround

I received this from a friend a few days ago but I only got the chance to look at it just now.  Now read on:
What UK children are told about Israel and the Palestinians

Up to 40 per cent of 6 to 12 year olds in the UK saw this BBC1 Newsround programme that went out at 5.00pm on 21 November 2012, giving the background to the current situation in Gaza and the longer term history behind it.
That's my friend's intro.

Here's the text from relevant page from the Newsround website:
After World War II and the Holocaust in which six million Jewish people were killed, Jewish people wanted their own country.

In 1948, the two sides went to war. When it ended, Gaza was controlled by Egypt and another area, the West Bank, by Jordan. They contained thousands of Palestinians who fled what was now the new Jewish home, Israel.
Israel's recognition
But then, in 1967, after another war, Israel occupied these Palestinian Territories and Israeli troops stayed there for years. Israelis hoped they might exchange the land they won for Arab countries recognising Israel's right to exist and an end to the fighting.
Israel finally left Gaza in 2005 but soon after, a group called Hamas took control there. Much of the world calls Hamas a terrorist organisation. It refuses to recognise Israel as a country and wants Palestinians to be able to return to their old home - and will use violence to achieve its aims.
Since then, Israel has held Gaza under a blockade, which means it controls its borders and limits who can get in and out.
Life in Gaza
Life for the many of the 1.5 million Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip is difficult.
Israel controls its coastline and all the entry and exit crossings into Israel. There is another crossing point into Egypt. There is no working airport. Because access is so restricted, not many goods get into or out of Gaza. Food is allowed in, but aid agencies say families are not eating as much meat or fresh vegetables and fruit as they used to. There are often power cuts.
Large numbers of people are unemployed because businesses can get very few of their products out of Gaza to sell, and people don't have much money to buy things.
Palestinian refugees
During the 1948 and 1967 wars hundreds of thousands of Palestinians left, or were forced out of, their homes and moved to neighbouring countries to become refugees.
More than 4.6 million Palestinians are refugees and their decendants, many living in camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. They get help from the United Nations.
Violence in Gaza
Though the Palestinians don't have an army, rockets are regularly fired from Gaza into Israel. Israelis living in border towns are used to having to take shelter and adapting their lives to deal with the rockets.
The last time major violence broke out was in December 2008, when Israel sent soldiers into Gaza to stop Hamas firing rockets over the border. More than 1300 people in Gaza and 13 Israelis died in that conflict and people around the world hope it won't get to that point again.
Peace Process
Other countries, particularly America, have worked hard to settle the fighting between the Arabs and Israelis but so far nothing has worked. Many people want Gaza and the West Bank to be turned into a new country - Palestine. Israel won't agree to this unless it feels safe - and Hamas accepts its right to exist. The other sticking points are what will happen to Israelis who've settled in the West Bank, who will run Jerusalem and what will happen to the Palestinian refugees.
I still haven't seen the programme and the last I checked it was inaccessible but if anyone can find it for me, please let me know.  I think it only remains on line for a week so there's only two days to go.


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