An inaccurate report appeared in the Jerusalem Post, entitled:
JPOST ran this piece without checking with the EU, and without checking with the Palestinian Ministry of Education
There is no reason to ascribe credibility or reassurance from the PA Ministry of Education, as if it is revamping its school books to delete incitement.
Over the past 20 years, The Center for Near East Policy Research has commissioned journalists who hold Phd’s to examine all 365 PA school books and all 109 PA teachers manuals, the only source of text books allowed by UNRWA. As a matter of policy, not one word of peace or reconciliation appears in any PA school book.
Palestinian journalists who cover the PA Ministry of Education assist us. These courageous reporters have helped our agency produce 24 films over the past 11 years. As honest Palestinians, they confirm that there are no plans for any overhaul of PA or UNRWA education
The cosmetic changes that the PA Ministry of Education has made over the past three years have been accompanied by a deterioration of the PA curriculum, including popular PA songs taken from PA texts which circulate on you tube, where children chant melodies that promote the extermination of the Jews.
European Parliament discussions which condemn PA textbooks do not affect EU policy, which continues to pour funds into PA and UNRWA schools – with no constraints whatsover.
The EU, donating $ 131,742,673 per annam to UNRWA with no strings attached, is now the 2nd leading funder of UNRWA, which spends 54% of its budget on “education”,used to purchase PA textbooks, the only school books which UNRWA allows for 321,000 UNRWA students who study in UNRWA schools in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
An EU Spokeswoman told the media last week that the EU does not finance PA school books, as if the EU does not know that EU funding to UNRWA is allocated to purchase Palestinian Authority school books.