​David Bedein

Director

Israel Resource News Agency​  at The Nahum Bedein Center for Near East Policy Research

www.israelbehindthenews.com

Thanks to the US freeze on American funds to UNRWA*, Germany, which presents itself as a democratic power, is now the leading  donor state of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which services the  Palestinian refugees of the 1948 was… and their descendants. 

* https://israelbehindthenews.com/2023/04/21/financial-crisis-in-unrwa-why/

 

58 % of the current UNRWA budget is allocated to an education system which indoctrinates Arab children to make at war with  Jews.

A most recent tabulation of donations from UNRWA donor nations :

https://www.unrwa.org/how-you-can-help/government-partners/funding-trends

As such, Germany shoulders a responsibility to assure the people of Germany and the Jewish people that their money is not channeled in a non-peaceful direction.

One of the best and simplest ways of doing that is checking the attitude of textbooks issued by the Palestine Liberation Organization, and used in UNRWA schools, toward the Israeli/Jewish “other” and to the issue of peace with that “other”.

More than 1,000 UNRWA texts have now been examined by three journalists with PhD’s in Islamic Studies

It is imperative that an effort be made to provide this information in the German language.

Schoolbooks are the most revealing source of information regarding the values and aspirations a society would instill in the minds of its youngsters. 

Following a protracted state of war, these texts serve as a trustable indicator of the existence, or non-existence, of peace education. 

The Oslo Accord signed by the State of Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993 opened a new phase in the Middle East in which both parties were supposed to advance towards a peaceful solution of that war.

 In 1994, the Palestinian Authority (PA) was established by the PLO to rule the West Bank and the Gaza Strip which, until then, were fully administered by Israel. 

The PA assumed most governmental powers in those areas, including education. In 2000 it started issuing its own schoolbooks in a process that lasted until 2006. A newer set of PA schoolbooks was published between the years 2016-2018. 

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for the 1948 Palestinian refugees and their descendants, which has been operating in Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza (as well as in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon) since 1950, use the PLO books in its schools. UNRWA, as a UN agency, is bound by the UN endorsed principle of resolving all conflict peacefully, as well as by UNESCO principles of peace education [See chart below] As a UN agency, all UN agencies  should treat all member states equally, including the State of Israel

It is imperative  for the German powers that be to know whether the PLO textbooks used in UNRWA schools (as well as in all other schools in Jerusalem,  West Bank and Gaza Strip) advocate  peace or call for an armed struggle, recognize the existence of Israel as a sovereign state in the region and the presence of its six-million Jews  in the country as well as their holy places there, treat Jewish/Israeli individuals as ordinary human beings, renounce terrorist activity against civilians, employ self-criticism in this regard, etc.

Germany, more than any other nation, should be extra-careful while dealing with issues closely connected to the wellbeing of the citizens of the Jewish State.   

A few months ago, I visited the Bundestag German Parliament, accompanied by professionals who had examined all UNRWA textbooks, and by Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

 We briefed seven German political parties with films and studies which documented the new UNRWA war curriculum.

The office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel would not meet with us. 

After our visit, Germany increased its funds to UNRWA, granted with no conditions.

Now we must find a foundation (s) to translate all these films and studies into German

We must   return to Germany to make a high profile presentation in Berlin.

We must hold German Chancellor Merkel accountable. 

Remember: German instigation of the holocaust commenced in the classroom. 

“Never Again”.   

 

Appendix: UNESCO Principles of Education for Peace and Tolerance

  • Does the curriculum promote tolerance, understanding and respect of the 

            “other”, its culture, achievements, values and way of life?  

  • Does the curriculum develop capabilities for non-violent conflict resolution?  
  • Does the curriculum promote peace?
  • Does the curriculum promote international understanding and cooperation? 

            Does it motivate the student to understand and bear responsibility for the     

            keeping of peace?

  • Is the curriculum free of wording, imagery and ideologies likely to create 

            prejudices, misconceptions, stereotypes, misunderstandings, mistrust, racial  

            hatred, religious bigotry and national hatred, as well as any other form of     

            hatred or contempt for other groups or peoples?

  • Is all the educational material (textbooks, workbooks, teachers’ guides, maps, 

            illustrations, instructional aids) up-to-date, accurate, balanced and 

            unprejudiced? Does it use equal standards to promote mutual knowledge and 

            understanding between different peoples?

  • Does the curriculum include objective, complete and up-to-date data, as well 

            as critical analysis of the historical and contemporary factors at the root of the 

            differences, conflicts and tension between states and groups, as well as ways      

            to overcoming those differences?

[1] Based on the “Declaration of Principles on Tolerance”, proclaimed and signed by member states of UNESCO on November 16, 1995, Articles 1, 4.2.

[2] Based on the “Integrated Framework for action on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy”, approved by the General Conference of UNESCO at its twenty-eight session, Paris, November 1995, Article 9, and on the afore-mentioned “Declaration of Principles on Tolerance”, Article 5.

[3] Ibid., Article 6.

[4] Based on “UNESCO Recommendations concerning Education for International Understanding, Cooperation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”, adopted by the General Conference at its eighteenth session, Paris, November 19, 1974, Articles III 6 and IV 7.

[5] Ibid., Articles III 6, IV 7, VII 39, and the afore-mentioned “Integrated Framework”, Article 18.

[6] Ibid., Articles VI 39, X 45 and “the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance”, Article 4.3.

 

7  Based on the afore-mentioned “UNESCO Recommendations”, Article V 14

 

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