Critique : UNRWA & NSC Response to Comprehensive Study of PA/UNRWA textbooks

ith the launch of the new school year in the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA education system, it pains me to report that US funds flow to these schools, without constraints to UNRWA/ PA schools – funded in great part by US AID , which allocates $359 million a year to UNRWA, representing thirty percent of the $1.2 billion UNRWA budget. which emanates from 68 donor nations.  54% of these donor funds educate 492,000 students in UNRWA schools in Judea, Samaria, Gaza & Jerusalem.

Considering the fact that President Trump was the first US President to personally see and react to the PA/UNRWA textbooks, it is even more disturbing that the US would simply fund the books as a matter of business as usual.

President Trump saw the PA textbooks and gave Israel a green light

As the director of the agency which conducted the first comprehensive study of Palestinian Authority text books used by UNRWA, underwritten by Simon Wiesenthal Center, it is imperative to address a false statement issued by UNRWA that the U.S. and EU approved text books which  “made significant updates in 2016 to address concerns” raised by these text books. This UNRWA statement provided the basis for a positive NSC  (National Security Council) assessment of UNRWA education.

National Security Council (NSC) issues statement on UNRWA. We offer to brief the NSC

Having covered UNRWA education for thirty years, at no time have the US or the EU ever been given the opportunity by UNRWA or the PA to review or approve textbooks used in any PA or UNRWA school. We have received letters on record from US AID, which reports that, as a matter of policy, US AID will not examine texts in PA or UNRWA schools.

After a Year of Misinformation from the Obama administration – US AID ADMITS: “WE DO NOT INTERFERE WITH THE PALESTINIAN CURRICULUM”

The following points address the issues that UNRWA raised concerning the first comprehensive study of PA/UNRWA textbooks.

1. This is the new study:

Executive Summary:

Schoolbooks of the Palestinian Authority (PA): The Attitude to Jews, Israel and Peace

Full report:

Full study of school books now used by UNRWA & the Palestinian Authority

2. Newsworthy items taken from those new PA/UNRWA textbooks:

Items Taken from the New PA Schoolbooks used in UNRWA schools, August 2017

3. Analysis of the UNRWA role in the education of Palestinian Arab children

UNRWA’s Problematic Educational Role in the Middle East Conflict

4. UNRWA dismissed the study out of hand:

https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/textbooks-used-unrwa-schools-occupied-palestinian-territory

5. Refutation of UNRWA statement by author of the study of PA/UNRWA texts.

UNRWA Spokesperson Christopher Gunness Refuted

6. Statement from The Center For Near East Policy Research to the UNRWA response

Don’t believe what your UNRWA Spokesperson tells you

7. Short Investigative films of UNRWA, filmed on location:

http://tinyurl.com/lxc6xvs

Where do we go from here? Urge donor nations to adopt the “UNRWA Reform Initiative” to condition funds on reforms consonant with UN values:

Don’t Dismantle UNRWA; Reform Its Policies