An Arabic language professor named Ghassan Zakaria handed out maps of the Middle East to his class at San Diego State University recently (to help them better learn Arabic). Students were amazed to learn that the map had no Israel-just Palestine-that mythical land that has never been a country. A complaint was made and the university responded appropriately.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/17/calif-college-professor-hands-out-middle-east-map-but-something-big-is-missing/
Maybe I should make up a map of North America to hand out to my English students- a map where Canada is gone and just the US covers the whole land mass.
Or maybe one of those Aztlan maps where the Southwestern US is portrayed as "Aztlan" or Mexico. Maybe my friends over at La Voz de Aztlan can send me one.
Or maybe one of those 1942 maps of Greater Germany.
Or better yet, how about a map showing the Land of Oz?
None of the schoolbooks I've seen in the arab areas show the state of Israel.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, which seem contradictory, the one MSU student I showed a map of the M.E. to claimed it was false because he thought Israel was much bigger.
So whatever argument the arabs are making at the time, Israel can be nonexistent or huge with equal certainty and conviction.