Rhetorical Devices of Palestinian and Israeli Official Memory: Palestinian and Israeli History School Textbooks as a Case Study

Abstract

Oslo Accords have stringently underscored that both rivalries, the Palestinians and the Israelis, must abstain from incitement to terror and violence. Their educational systems, consequently, have to refrain from convulsive, fundamentalist, and heinous skirmishes leading to stalled reconciliation. History school textbooks are deemed, from both parties, so relevant that they inherently embody their official memories. Regarded as the representations of the past and the formal institutions of the group, official memory incarnates the true existence of one’s nation as it gives prominence to its history. To stave off potential detriments that may menace a country’s viability, official memory is deployed as a shield against enticement, incitement, and lies’ mongering. The present article indulges into a comparative rhetorical inspection of Israeli and Palestinian history school textbooks. Since it falls into the scope of argumentation and persuasion, rhetoric stands for the theoretical background of the study. The latter seeks to unveil the various rhetorical devices deployed by Palestinians and Israelis while conceiving their educational history textbooks to highlight the interconnectedness between history and official memory, on one hand, and the extent to which both school textbooks comply with Oslo Accords, on other hand.