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The Palestinian Authority’s school curriculum, dogmatic education system and controlled-media reflect its worldview and core values, as is the case in all non-democratic regimes.
The Palestinian school curriculum has been the most critical tool to indoctrinate and mold Palestinian youth – K through 12 – in accordance with the dominant ideology and policy of the Palestinian Authority, aiming to sustain the regime and advance its goals.
Anti-Israel and anti-Jewish themes, which have dominated the Palestinian curriculum and controlled-media, reflect the inherently primary geo-strategic goals of the Palestinian Authority. As documented by the Palestinian curriculum, the Palestinian Authority has not been preoccupied with the size – but with the existence – of the “infidel” Jewish State in the “abode of Islam.”
For example, “Where are the cavalrymen who will dash to liberate [the Jerusalem Al Aqsa Mosque] from the fists of the infidel aides of the devil [the Jews]” (7th grade, Arabic Language, volume 1, p. 66)? “The Jews did not honor the accord [with the Prophet Muhammad] and resorted to betrayal, treachery and hostility, which forced the Moslems to fight them” (7th grade, Islamic Education, volume 1, p. 50). “The Jews repeated their attempts to murder The Messenger [Muhammad]” (5th grade, Islamic Education, volume 2, p. 66). “Jihad [a binding Holy War] is one of the gates to Paradise” (7th grade, Arabic Language, volume 2, p.92).
The aforementioned quotes featured in a June 2018 study of over 200 Palestinian school books – many of them used in UNRWA schools – which was conducted by the veteran researcher of Palestinian curriculum, Dr. Arnon Groiss, commissioned by the Jerusalem-based “Center for Near East Policy Research” and published by Israel-based “Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.”
According to Dr. Groiss, “A thorough examination of the new [2017] PA schoolbooks revealed that they followed three main fundamentals: the de-legitimization of Israel’s existence and the very presence of Jews in the country; the demonization of Israel and Jews; and war indoctrination instead of peace education…. None of the PA textbooks, including those used in UNRWA schools, advocates peaceful coexistence with Israel, or hints at the possibility of solving the conflict peacefully…. The new [2017] books, which have been accepted for teaching by UNRWA, are generally more radical than their predecessors…. Peaceful coexistence with Israel is not an option. Instead, a violent struggle for the liberation of Palestine in its entirety is propagated, since the original occupation of Palestine took place in 1948, not 1967….”
An April 2017 study by Hebrew University Prof. Eldad Pardo, the Research Director at the “Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se),” documents a revival of the 1974 “PLO Phased Policy” to eliminate Israel in stages through the PA curriculum: “What used to be the strategy of one extremist guerilla movement has become the standard for all Palestinian students.”
Prof. Pardo observes that Israel is defined, by Palestinian school textbooks, as “the 1948 Occupied Territories.” Therefore, “the PA educational system has created a Palestinian nationalism that is incompatible with Israel’s existence….”
Moreover, “3rd grade pupils recite from Our Beautiful Language, volume 2 p. 64: ‘I vow that I shall sacrifice my blood… will remove/eliminate the usurper from my country, and will annihilate the remnants of the foreigners….’ There is apparently no restriction on violence until the last Israeli is out of Palestine [from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean].”
Prof. Pardo notes that “the new Palestinian 1st-4th grade curriculum is significantly more radical than in previous curricula…. The struggle against Israel and its disappearance is the main theme…. Children are expendable…. Martyrs are used as examples in math classes…. Religion is clearly abused in 11th-12th grades to foment hate amid calls for eternal war in the Levant…”
Back to Dr. Groiss’ June, 2018 study: “Israel’s very establishment, in 1948, is described as occupation…. Israel is never presented as a sovereign state, neither on maps nor in texts, even within its pre-1967 boundaries (5th grade, Social Studies, volume 1, p. 22; 4th grade, National and Social Upbringing, volume 1, p. 7; 3rd grade, Sciences and Life, volume 1, p.65).
4th graders study mathematics in the following manner (Mathematics, volume 1, p.25): “The number of martyrs during the First Intifadah [1988-92 wave of terrorism] reached 2,026; the number of martyrs during the Al Aqsa Intifadah [2000-2005 wave of terrorism] was 5,050. How many martyrs were there during the two Intifadahs?”
5th graders (Arabic Language, volume 2, p.51) are taught that martyrs are in the vein of “the martyr Dalal al-Mughrabi [who co-led the 1978 Palestinian assault on a public transportation bus, on Israel’s coastal highway, murdering 35 passengers and injuring 71] who painted with her struggle a picture of heroism that has made her memory eternal in our hearts and minds….” 9th graders learn in their Arabic Language book, volume 1, page 61 – which is used in UNRWA schools – that Molotov Cocktails hitting an Israeli public transportation bus produce ‘a barbecue party’….”
P.S. The Palestinian education system was instituted in 1993 by Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Arafat – the “moderate” wing of the Palestinians….