

A bunch of Goofs
They are ‘Passionate About Palestine,’ But They Can’t Find Palestinian Territories on a Map
Most students who care strongly about the “Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories” do not have knowledge of basic facts surrounding the subject, and do not share similar concerns about other geopolitical conflicts, a recent study has suggested.
The survey, carried out among 230 undergraduates at the University of California, Berkeley, was conducted by Ron Hassner, the Helen Diller Family Chair in Israel Studies at the school who
published an essay on his results on Monday.
It asked respondents to rate their attitude on 18 issues, “including US-Iran relations, the civil war in Yemen, drone warfare, etc., on a five point scale, ranging from ‘I’m not that interested’ (1 point out of 5) to ‘I care deeply’ (5 points out of 5),” explained Hassner, who also included a series of open-ended questions “on history, geography, and current affairs.”
One hundred of the participating students, or 43 percent, expressed the highest rate of interest in Israel’s control of Palestinian territories, while simultaneously caring “far less about other Middle East occupations, such as the Kurdish struggle for independence, the occupation of Western Sahara, or the occupation of Northern Cyprus,” Hassner found.
Of the 100 students who said they “care deeply” about the Palestinian territories, only 10 also reported the same level of interest in the Sahrawi independence movement in Western Sahara, while only six were equally enthusiastic to learn about all Middle Eastern independence movements.
Israeli security forces gather at the scene of a Palestinian terrorist attack near the West Bank settlement of Dolev, Aug. …
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