HUMAN-RIGHTS IN HISTORY AND CIVICS TEXTBOOKS - THE CASE OF ISRAEL

Human rights education, as reflected in the presentation of ''the othe rs'' and relations with them in forty-four history textbooks, twenty-t hree civics texts, and five ''peace education'' manuals, published in Israel from the 1950s on, are analyzed and evaluated. Attitudes toward Gentiles, Arabs, Oriental Israelis, and ne newcomers have improved im mensely during the past half century, but nevertheless the ''hidden'' textbooks portray the cultural loftiness and prejudice of Israelis who are still a nation of people trapped by their own siege mentality.