Palestinian School books at a time of war

In August 2000, as Israel headed to critical stage of talks at the Camp David summit with the PLO, Palestinians began to issue their own textbooks.

The fact that the Palestinians issued their own school books at time of what was then  seen then as a peace process was acclaimed as a s step in the right direction,

 Our news and research agency then met with PLO chairman Yassir Arafat and asked for authorization to review the attitude of Palestinian textbooks toward Israel, Jews, and peace.

Arafat readily agreed ,and The PLO has continued to this day to sell us all of their  1,000 school books ,which w with a team of Arabic fluent experts , led by Dr. Arnon Groiss, who  headed the Voice of Israel Arabic language service for 40 years/

However, for these 25 years, we found out that the principles of these new texts were not different from those of Hamas.

They are also the books that were actually taught in Gaza during all the  years under Hamas rule.

The treatment of the conflict in these textbooks boils down to three basic principles:

Opposition to the existence of the State of Israel in any territory in the country and to the very presence of its seven million Jewish citizens, severe demonization of it and the Jews – also on religious grounds, and a call for a violent struggle for comprehensive liberation, within the framework of which the need for their annihilation is sometimes implied.[i]

This is not just about presenting the State of Palestine as the sovereign state in the entire land instead of Israel – both in the text and on the maps – and replacing the name Israel with the term “Zionist occupation”, but also about erasing Tel Aviv and the other cities built by Jews in the land from the map,[ii] and by denying their history in the country and the existence of their holy places there – most notably the Western Wall, the last remnant of their destroyed temple in Jerusalem. The occupation, according to the Palestinian textbooks, does not date back to 1967, but to 1948.[iii]

Demonization is done by presenting the Jews as infidels, as the Devil’s aides, and as enemies of God’s prophets (and by implication, enemies of God himself – bearing in mind the danerous implications of such expressions in the eyes of students from traditional societies),[iv] who in the past betrayed Muhammad and who today constitute an existential threat to the Palestinians. The Jews are a threat, as claimed in the books, because of their racism stemming from the “chosen people” idea and because, as claimed, they are motivated by the Jewish religious thought to perpetrate massacres with the intention of exterminating the Palestinians.[v]

The Oslo Accords are detailed in one or two history books, but they are not used to spreading a call for peace with Israel. On the contrary, the education is for jihad and martyrdom (shahada) to liberate the country from the “occupying Zionists,” with cities within Israel in its pre-1967 borders, such as Haifa, Jaffa, and Acre, being explicitly mentioned in this context.[vi] Terrorism, like the attack on the civilian bus on the coastal road in 1978, is an integral part of the struggle for liberation, as is the return of refugees. A song that talks about the extermination of the “defeated remnants of the foreigners” after the liberation was dropped from the textbooks after a few years of being taught in them. But it was given a melody and used to be sung in dozens of classrooms in the PA territories. It is not clear whether it has stopped being sung after it had been taken out of the books.

It should be emphasized that the use of these PA textbooks is mandatory in all schools, including private and UNRWA schools, in the Judea, Samaria and Gaza territories and in many schools in East Jerusalem. All the points mentioned here are taught in the current school year and have not been changed since 2000 , although new printings have also been published in later years. That comes in contrast to the repeated claims by Western officials and journalists that say otherwise.

The basic premise of our research is that textbooks most clearly reflect the way in which a society, any society, seeks to instill its principles in the minds of the younger generation. The content of the PA’s textbooks clearly contradicts its commitments under the Oslo Accords

In that context, such a curriculum  should not be allowed to set foot in the new stabilization plan in Gaza, because  this preservse the spirit of Hamas’ education/

Indeed, we now engage Palestinian journalists in who run new schools in Gaza who are proud of the  fact that they continue to teach the Jihadi curriculum that the Palestinians adopted 25 years ago.  .

 Within this framework, traditional ideals that bear a belligerent character, such as jihad and martyrdom (shahada), must be detached from the current conflict and left as part of the historical past.. The Palestinian text books non-recognition of the Jewish presence in the land today must cease by putting Tel Aviv and other major cities founded by Jews on the map. T

 Current denial of both Jewish history and the existence of Jewish holy places in Palestinian text books  must be stopped and the falsification of historical items must cease

THE  MESSAGE TO 135 NATIONS THAT FINANCE PALESTINIAN EDUCATION

Any material that expresses religious bigotry against Jews must be removed from the books, and certainly any material that speaks of their extermination.

[i] See the presentation of the religious tradition (Hadith) of the future extermination of the Jews by the Muslims as heralding the liberation from the Jewish occupation of the land (Faith, Grade 11 in the Shar’i track (2013 – the latest edition of this book to date) p. 94).

[ii] (Social Studies, Grade 6, Part 1 (2020) p. 6), (Mathematics, Grade 6, Part 2 (2020) p. 76), (Social Studies, Grade 5, Part 1 (2020) p. 17).

[iii] See the table presenting the numbers of Palestinians in various areas, including “within the occupied territories since 1948” (Mathematics, Grade 4, Part 1 (2020) p. 22), as well as the phrase: “Palestine has been under Israeli occupation since 1948 to this day” (Teacher’s Guide, Geography and Modern and Contemporary History of Palestine, Grade 10 (2018) p. 188).

[iv] Devil’s aides (Arabic Language, Grade 7, Part 1 (2020) p.

7), enemies of God’s prophets (Islamic Education, Grade 9, Part 2 (2020) p. 21).

[v] A sample assessment sheet of students’ achievements includes, among other topics: “Clarifying the Zionist gangs’ purpose in carrying out massacres.” The highest score was given to the student who linked the massacres to Jewish religious thought. The “unsatisfactory” score was given to the student who explained well the reasons for the massacres but did not link them to Jewish or Zionist thought.

[vi] (Our Beautiful Language, Grade 2, Part 1 (2020) p. 44), (The Arabic Language, Grade 8, Part 2 (2019) p. 102), (Teacher’s Guide, The Arabic Language, Grade 10 (2018) p. 168).