(West Bank) Settler children to learn importance of IDF

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 6 January 2004 | YAAKOV KATZ

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Jan. 6, 2004
Settler children to learn importance of IDF
By YAAKOV KATZ

In fear of violent confrontations between settlers and IDF soldiers in the case of the removal of an outpost or a settlement, the Council for Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza presented an education program Tuesday designed to teach school children in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip of the importance of the Israel Defense Forces in Israeli society.

The program, intended for students from 1st to 12th grade, will begin in several days and will last a month at the end of which, the pupils will hold a marching ceremony in honor of the IDF.

Spokesman for the settlement council Yehoshua Mor-Yosef told the Jerusalem Post that the motive behind the education initiative is to attempt to relieve the general tense relationship between the settlers and the IDF.

"The purpose of the program is to deal with the general state of hostility between settlers and the soldiers," Mor-Yosef said. "People need to learn how to treat the soldiers and to salute the IDF and thank them twenty times for all they do."

The Education Ministry said that they were not formally informed of the initiative but that they would happily cooperate in teaching school children the importance of the IDF in Israeli society.

"If the Yesha council's goal is in fact to operate an education program about the importance of the IDF in Israeli society with the aim of avoiding violent confrontations between settlers and soldiers, then the education ministry welcomes the initiative and would be happy to cooperate," the ministry's spokesman said.

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