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One of our most extensive areas of journalistic research has involved investigations of Palestinian Authority/UNRWA education.

We engaged Israeli and Arab journalists to film PA/UNRWA schools, acquire and translate all new PA/UNRWA school books, and investigate the use of UNRWA facilities for terrorism and terror education.

Over the years, we have brought these investigations to the attention of Middle East subcommittees in both houses of Congress, resulting in an official GAO study of PA/UNRWA education.

GAO findings recently released after a delay of a full year, confirm that the PA has provided UNRWA with a war curriculum for 321,000 students who learn in UNRWA schools in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Jerusalem… making the possibility of any kind of peace process seem utterly absurd.

Take a look at that GAO study:

We have translated and examined all PA school books used by UNRWA since the new PA curriculum was launched on August 1, 2000.

The idea of an independent curriculum which would be generated by the nascent Palestinian Authority was seen as the panacea of the peace process.

While the new PA curriculum was always characterized by incitement, the last two years have witnessed a deterioration into war indoctrination. This was amply documented in the studies provided to the US Congress by our professionals. Now studies by the GAO, as requested by Senator James Risch, chair of the Near East Subcommittee have provided independent verification of the findings of CFNEPR.

Thanks to the GAO disclosure of its study of PA/UNRWA education, the public can gain better understanding of where the problem lies.

Focal issue of GAO report: The State Department misled Congress 

The State Department reported to Congress that it had developed alternative materials to the anti-Semitic and pro-incitement PA school curriculum used by UNRWA.

In the GAO report, State cannot explain why these existing alternative materials were never implemented and have never been seen in the UNRWA classroom.

GAO asserts that the PA curriculum used by UNRWA led to participation in riots.

 GAO  reveals that State neither vetted any PA books used in the UNRWA curriculum.

How did State know there is no incitement? GAO reports that State relied solely on the assurances of representatives of the PA Ministry of Education, who wrote the school books.

How can UNRWA justify the glorification of murderers in the school books? 

State tells GAO that “problematic” pages appear only 3% of the books, which UNRWA acknowledges.

If so, why does UNRWA not remove such books? No explanation.

Why did US AID, which covered 30% of UNRWA’s budget until recently, never demand the removal of such books? No explanation offered.

Senator James Risch (R-Idaho), chair of the US Senate Near East Subcommittee, who initiated the GAO study, is to be commended.

He has no real Jewish constituency to speak of.

He initially met me for one reason: because of his fundamental integrity.

When I showed him chapter and verse of the curriculum, he shook his head and simply said that such incitement to violence has no place in a school system financed in part by the US – let alone by the UN.

Senator Risch asked for “independent verification” of the research that our agency provided Congress with over the years, ever since we began to acquire the new school books of the PA.

On the day that the PA first published its new school books, on August 1, 2000, we travelled to the meet the PA Minister of Education Dr. Nayim Abu Humus, at the new Ministry of Education in Ramallah, who presented us with the first set of books.

Ever since, we have received and translated all PA school books used by UNRWA.

The idea behind the PA issuing its own texts for use in UNRWA schools was that this would be a sign of a responsible, independent Palestinian Arab state in formation. However, the theme of the new PA school books evolved into the “right of return [to take back all of Palestine] by force of arms” including what is now Israel.

 Senator Risch received the GAO report last April, which provided independent verification that the PA provided war curriculum for UNRWA, the State Department issued a gag order, not to release the report.

Senator Risch had the courage to speak up, telling colleagues that was he was shocked that State would classify the report, in order to stop the Congress from even reviewing it.

At one point, a journalist asked the Senator why he does not publish the GAO report on his own. Senator Risch responded that that if he opens the GAO report, he can be arrested.

Threat of punishment for violation of classification is stated on what was the opening page of the GAO report before its declassification in early February 2019.

Until three weeks ago, spokespeople of the US State Department, blamed the GAO for the classification of the report.

However, the spokesman of the GAO, Chuck Young, asserted that the decision to classify the report was made by the State Department.

State was forced to issue a statement that, indeed, only State was responsible for quashing its publication and release.

The straw that broke the camel’s back occurred when a State spokeswoman declared that State did not have to respond as to why they classified the report.

That response produced angry calls from Congress, and, finally, a decision by State to make the report available for public knowledge and for US Congressional scrutiny.

 State Department now distributes and discloses the report, with no explanation for the ten-month delay.

How bad are the PA books used by UNRWA?

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, of blessed memory, who served as the Papal Nuncio in 2000, was the first official to review the new PA school books.

Archbishop Sambi declared that the new PA curriculum was a manual for war and asked the Italian government to pull its funding from the PA Ministry of Education. The Italian consul in Jerusalem publicly apologized to Israel’s Knesset Parliament for “helping to produce such books of war.”

Over the past 18 years, our agency has reviewed all PA school books used by UNRWA.

We have produced more than a dozen short films shot on location in the UNRWA schools, which are have been transformed into paramilitary bases, training children to kill.

Had we seen one school book or one school lesson for peace, it would have been an honor to report it.

Thanks to the initiative and integrity of Senator James Risch, the issue of UNRWA “education” now sees the light of day.

SOURCETimes of Israel

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David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.