A senior official from the UAE Teachers Association has demanded that heavy penalties be imposed on anyone handling publications that promote the normalisation of ties with Israel.

Ali Al Naboodah, Director of the association's main branch in Sharjah, stressed the need for tighter censorship of imported publications that carry the Israeli name or flag.

"Censorship is required particularly in children's books, which often carry such violations," he told Gulf News yesterday. He recalled parents complaining of teaching matter with content related to Israel. A passage in one book describes the Dead Sea as "falling between Jordan and Israel".

Al Naboodah said anyone who finds such publications should take them to the authorities immediately so that they can be confiscated and an investigation undertaken.

"Tearing the book or one of its pages will not do any good, since there will be other copies out there," he said. Al Naboodah proposed penalties for anyone selling these publications.

"They must be fined heavily and if they repeat their violations their businesses must be closed down. This will encourage them to exercise self-censorship, which in turn will curb violations," he said.

Censorship of foreign publications must be tightened throughout the Arab world, since it is an issue that concerns every Arab citizen. Al Naboodah also called for tougher controls on imported children's toys and other material which may bear the Israeli flag.

"If we let small things like this penetrate our societies and our children's minds, we will be giving our enemies a chance to shake our beliefs, which is something that no Arab can tolerate."

A source at the Ministry of Information and Culture said that all imported publications are checked thoroughly to ensure that they do not contain information that distorts Arab and Islamic values.

"But in rare cases an offensive publication might slip through unnoticed, and it is the duty of the public at this stage to report any such violations," the source said.