By: Aryeh Savir
Research carried out by the Georg Eckert Institute reviewing the content of textbooks used in the Palestinian Authority (PA) presents a harsh reality in which students in the PA educational system are taught to hate and use violence, a new study on the issue has found.
The research on PA textbooks was commissioned by the European Commission, which is one of the primary funders of the PA education system.
It encompasses an analysis of a sample of 156 textbooks and 16 teacher guides published between 2017 and 2019 by the PA Ministry of Education for use in general education schools in the subjects: Arabic language, social studies and social upbringing, history and geography, religious education, mathematics, natural sciences and life sciences.
According to the findings, published Friday, the term “Israel” appears relatively seldom, while the term “Zionist occupation” dominates in the books.
“Palestine” appears on the maps that generally do not include the State of Israel or Israeli cities.
Questioning of the legitimacy of the State of Israel is expressed in passages and textbooks.
A textbook on Islam provided a learning context that displays anti-Semitic motifs and links characteristics and actions attributed to Jews at the dawn of Islam, namely treason, to the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Textbooks for the Arabic language “contain emotionally laden depictions of Israeli violence that tend to dehumanise the Israeli adversary, occasionally accusing the latter of malice and deceitful behaviour. They depict past acts of violence committed by Palestinians against Jewish paramilitary groups during the British Mandate and subsequently against Israel as part of a heroic struggle against a colonizing oppressor,” the report notes.
This report is the latest in a series on anti-Semitism, glorification of terrorism and Islamic martyrdom, and the erasure of Israel on maps found in school books issued by the PA.
“The findings of the study are alarming,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated Sunday.
The textbooks contain many elements that educate for anti-Semitism, glorification of terrorists and terror activities, and the denial of Israel’s right to exist.
“The fact that the aid that the EU provides to the Palestinian Authority’s education system is used to produce anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli propaganda, which encourages hatred, violence, and terrorism rather than promote coexistence, neighborly relations and peaceful resolution to the conflict, is unacceptable,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat.
Israel called on the European Commission to “take the findings of the study seriously and expects the Commission to use all the tools at its disposal and take practical steps that will make it clear that the curriculum must be immediately amended and that EU’s aid to the PA’s education system will be affected, as long as the shortcomings detailed in the study are not amended.”
Norway decided last year to withhold half of its funding to the PA’s education sector until hate was removed from the textbooks.
The European Parliament in its last two successive budget discharge reports, for 2018 and 2019, condemned Ramallah’s failure to act against incitement in textbooks and insisted that the Commission ensure EU funds promote peace and tolerance in PA schools.
“Education for hatred, racism, violence, and terrorism stand in stark contrast to the values and policies of the EU. Resolute action must be taken to closely monitor the destinations and goals to which European funding is given,” Haiat concluded.
The PA’s educational system has repeatedly been accused of educating its students to hate Israel and Israelis and through terror-promoting messages. The system has been found to use cultural mediums such as school plays, sports events, and summer camps for this objective.
In line with this policy, the PA has named at least 28 schools after terrorists and at least three schools after Nazi collaborators. The PA Ministry of Education is directly and solely responsible for naming schools.
(TPS)
