For the first time in Israel’s history, more than 250 teachers signed a letter declaring that they would refuse to participate in an Education Ministry program to take pupils on “heritage tours” in occupied Hebron Palestinian city. Hebron is the only Palestinian city with a Jewish settlement at its heart. To enable a few hundred settlers to move about freely, Israel chose to enforce a formal policy of discrimination against the Palestinian residents of the city, and throughout the years Hebron city center became a ghost town.

“In February 2011, you announced a new tour program called Ascending to Hebron,” some 260 teachers wrote yesterday to Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar. “Introducing the program to schools is a manipulative use of pupils and teachers, who will be forced to become political pawns. Since we’re dedicated to education, our conscience prevents us from becoming agents of such a policy.”

A group of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals peace activists demonstrate against a marathon run by settlers in Hebron on February 2011. The Israeli army declared the area a closed military zone and pushed back the demonstrators, arresting one peace Israeli activist (Photo: Activestills)

Udi Gur, a literature teacher from Jerusalem and one of the initiators of the teachers’ letter, told “Haaretz” Sunday that “we might be at the beginning of an era when citizens must pay a personal price in order to stop the nationalistic wave.” “We hope that other teachers won’t fear, because we have no intention of backing down due to threats,” Gur continued. “The educational system is under attack by extremist political forces, aiming to trade education for indoctrination. We won’t allow that to happen.”

The teachers oppose Sa’ar’s plan to spend millions of shekels – the amount was undisclosed by the Education Ministry – to fund the tours. “You claim that the purpose of these tours isn’t political,” the letter reads. “But in your visit to Shiloh you announced their aim openly: ‘It’s good to come to the settlements. Its good that the settlements flourish. One should not allow the Arabs to harbor the illusion that one day there won’t be Jews here. Jews will always live here and any other illusion is an obstacle to peace.’ That is the reason we’re called to visit the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Shiloh. By using the national education system, you wish to strengthen and perpetuate the Jewish settlements in these areas. To this end, the reality in Hebron is presented in a partial and tendentious manner. Concealing the political reality is a political action.”

The controversial “heritage tours” curriculum has until now been geared only toward students in the Jerusalem school district; but last week, Sa’ar announced that it would be available to students across the country. Other projects initiated by Sa’ar include meetings between army officers and students that are aimed at “strengthening the connection and cooperation between schools and the Israel Defense Forces, and doubling the funding of Israeli Hike, whose declared purpose is to “clarify and strengthen the bond between the people of Israel and the Land of Israel, while understanding our roots as a people and our right to the land.”

Gur added: “We want to tell the minister unequivocally that neither we nor the pupils are his soldiers. This isn’t a leftist statement but one of teachers wishing their students to form a knowledgeable and independent opinion. These tours of Hebron and Shiloh are the complete opposite, since their aim isn’t educational. Their aim is to forge an emotional identification, while making political gains.” The teachers point to the fact that for the first time, teachers opposed to the ministry’s policies appear publicly and not anonymously.

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              Education minister planned to expand student tours in the Palestinian occupied city of Hebron