An assessment of graduate students' perceptions of human rights issues relative to the Palestinian and Israeli conflict

The purpose of this study is to explore how graduate students at the College of Education at the University of Toledo view the importance and objectives of human rights education in the development of respect for humanity, and how they reflect this awareness in their attitudes toward the issue of human rights for the Palestinians. This study also examined to what extent the students are aware of the precarious situation between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Additionally, the study examined the extent of biased awareness (i.e., in favor of Israel) that the graduate students hold toward the issue of human rights for Palestinians. The study also addressed the issue of the lack of research in the domain of human rights education.; One hundred and four students from five graduate classes at the University of Toledo offered in the Fall of 2006 participated in a survey comprised of three sections. The first section explored the beliefs of students in the importance and objectives of human rights education; the data revealed that the great majority of students believed in these important objectives. The second section investigated the attitudes of students regarding the issue of human rights for the Palestinians; the data indicated student bias in favor of Israel: students think that Israel is upholding the human rights of the Palestinian people on all levels - politically, economically, individually and collectively. The last section assessed students' knowledge regarding the historic struggle between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The data revealed that over half of the students either do not know or have incorrect knowledge about the historic struggle between the Palestinians and the Israelis.; The dissertation includes the following chapters: Chapter 1 provides introduction to the dissertation, which includes background of the problem, problem statement, purpose of the study, research questions, and hypothesis. Chapter 2 provides a relevant review of literature on human rights issues, which include the theoretical basis for the development of human rights regimes, basic rights, the relationship between human rights, peace, and democracy, the legal foundations of international human rights conventions, the main components of human rights protection, and human rights education. Moreover, the chapter includes a brief history of Palestine, an account of the human rights violations by the Israelis against the Palestinians. U.S. policy in the Middle East, political power, media analysis and an analysis of curricula used in the U.S. Chapter 3 discusses the research methodology which includes research design, sampling plan, instrumentation, pilot test, limitations and delimitations of the study, variables in the study, and data analysis. Chapter 4 presents the data analysis results, which includes the use of the Rasch model for analyzing the different sections of the instrument. The chapter includes descriptive (percentages) and inferential (correlations) statistics between the three variables of students' beliefs, attitudes and knowledge. Chapter 5 presents a summary and discussion of the research findings. This chapter includes recommendations for the necessity of human rights education in the U.S., Palestine, and Israel, and the necessity of providing students with a more balanced view regarding the struggle between the Palestinians and the Israelis. This chapter also contains recommendations for future research with a concluding statement. Following the five chapters of this dissertation are the reference list and appendices.