Mick Hartley

UNRWA, the UN agency employing some 60,000 to look after the Palestinians – the only UN agency dedicated to one particular group of "refugees" – are proceeding just as you'd expect them to proceed:

New schoolbooks used in United Nations Relief and Works Agency schools in Gaza and the West Bank display extreme anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiments and no hope for peace in the region, according to a study released on Wednesday by the Center for Near East Policy Research, The Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Middle East Forum.

The research, authored by Arab textbooks expert Dr. Aaron Groiss in collaboration with leaders of each of the involved organizations, examined some 150 textbooks of various school subjects, taught in grades one through 12. Seventy-five of the books checked were published in the years 2016 and 2017, as part of a new project initiated by the Palestinian Authority, which provides its curriculum to UNRWA schools.

The contents of the books were analyzed focusing on the depiction of the Jewish/Israeli "other," which revealed three fundamentals: delegitimization, demonization and indoctrination to violent struggle instead of peace.

According to the Palestinian schoolbooks, Jews have no rights whatsoever in the region but only "greedy ambitions." The books also say that Jews have no holy places there either – the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem are all presented as Muslim holy places threatened by Jews.

The study also shows that cities established by Jews in modern times, including Tel Aviv, are sometimes not shown on maps. “Israel is not a legitimate state according to the PA schoolbooks studied at UNRWA schools,” the study says. “The name ‘Israel’ does not appear on the map at all.”

In many cases, “Palestine” appears instead and covers Israel's pre-1967 territories as well. The almost complete erasure of the name "Israel" from the newly published PA schoolbooks of 2016-2017 is “a disturbing development,” the researchers wrote. “[As are] the numerous demonizing descriptions of the Jewish state and its replacement by the expression ‘Zionist occupation.’”

The study also points out that the concept of violent liberation is further intensified in the books published in 2016, as they now include, for the first time in the history of the PA curriculum, a reference to the fate of the 6 million Jews living in the country after its supposed liberation. According to the texts, they will endure expulsion from the land and the “extermination of its defeated and scattered remnants."

A 2017 text even reveals a shocking attitude toward Israelis by describing a Molotov-cocktail attack on an Israeli civilian bus as a "barbecue party," and another such text exalts a Palestinian female terrorist responsible for the killing of over thirty civilians in an attack on another Israeli bus.

“This list of items taught in UNRWA schools is incriminating,” the researchers concluded. “UNRWA, in fact, not only does propagate a non-peaceful line contrary to UN resolutions on the Middle East, and not only does allow the presentation of Israel and its Jewish citizens as illegitimate with heavy layers of demonization. UNRWA also betrays its moral obligation toward the Palestinian children and youths' human rights and well-being, by letting the PA prepare them for a future war with Israel.”

Using these textbooks, they added, is the UN agency’s contribution to perpetuating the conflict. “It is now high time that UNRWA change its policy of non-intervention in the contents of local curricula taught in its schools,” they added. “An international organization of this caliber committed to the ideal of peace and relying in its funding on democratic countries mostly, should have a say in this matter, especially in view of its relatively large share of Palestinian educational activity.”

A teacher in a UNRWA school in Gaza:

[Photo: Reuters]