Memorandum by Palestinian Media Watch
(PMW)
ABOUT PALESTINIAN
MEDIA WATCH
Palestinian Media Watch was established in 1996
to gain an understanding of Palestinian society through the monitoring
of the Palestinian Arabic language media and schoolbooks. Palestinian
Media Watch analyses Palestinian Authority culture and society
from numerous perspectives, including studies on summer camps,
poetry, schoolbooks, religious ideology, crossword puzzles, and
more.
Palestinian Media Watch has been playing the
critical role of documenting the contradictions between the image
the Palestinians present to the world in English and the messages
to their own people in Arabic.
Itamar Marcus is director of Palestinian Media
Watch. Mr Marcus was also the Director of Research for the Center
for Monitoring the Impact of Peace from 1998—2000, writing
studies on Palestinian, Jordanian, and Syrian school textbooks.
He was also a member of the Israeli delegation to the Trilateral
Committee to Monitor Incitement, established under the Wye Accords.
SYNOPSIS
— Palestinian Media Watch wishes to
draw attention to the nature and content of Grade 12 Palestinian
schoolbooks, introduced at the end of 2006 by the PA Ministry
of Higher Education and written by the Center for Developing the
Palestinian Curricula.
— The new books were introduced in
response to widespread international criticism of the old textbooks,
which were primarily Jordanian and Egyptian in origin. The Grade
12 books are just one year of the 12 that were introduced at the
end of last year.
— The authors and supervisors of the
new books are the same team of authors who have been writing during
the years 2000 through to 2005, with slight additions. It is notable
that the hateful ideology contained in these texts has been embraced
and is being taught by veteran Fatah educators, not by representatives
of Hamas.
— PMW have found that the Palestinian
textbooks make no attempt to educate for peace and co-existance,
and instead repeatedly reject Israel's right to exist. They also
promote the present conflict as a religious battle for Islam,
teach Israel's founding as imperialistic and portray a picture
of the Middle East, verbally and visually, in which Israel does
not exist.
— PA educators teach that fighting
Israel is not merely a territorial conflict but also a religious
battle for Islam. The schoolbooks present Israel as existing on
Islamic land, and as such, assert that the conflict with Israel
is not part of an Arab nationalistic goal but an uncompromising
battle for God.
— Maps of the region also teach children
to visualise a world without Israel, as Israel does not exist
on any map and its area is marked as "Palestine". It
is said to have water access to the Mediterranean and Red Sea
and to measure more than 10,000 sq km—meaning that it would
have to incorporate present-day Israel.
— PMW believes that one of the most
meaningful gages of the ideology and aspiration of a people is
the education of its youth. For this reason, the latest PA schoolbooks
are a continuation of the tragic disappointment of earlier books.
These texts glorify terror and teach youngsters to hate Israel.
The most concerning element of this however is that instead of
working to minimise hatred for Israel, the new PA curriculum is
ingraining into the next generation`s consciousness and packaging
the war against Israel as existential, mandatory and religious.
1. Israel as a religious battle
1.1 The PA schoolbooks teach that fighting
Israel is not merely a territorial, nationalistic conflict, but
a religious battle for Islam. The educators define the conflict
with Israel as "Ribat"—a concept from Islamic
tradition signifying Muslims defending the border areas of Islam.
Moreover, the youth are taught that their specific fight against
Israel—Ribat for "Palestine"—is "one
of the greatest of the Ribat, and they [Palestinians] are
worthy of a great reward from Allah".
1.2 Palestinian use of violence against
Israel is called "muqawama—resistance"
(Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and Commentary, grade
12, p 105)—and is said to be legal according to international
law. And after defining "Palestine" to encompass all
of Israel, Israel's eventual destruction is assured: "Palestine
will be liberated by its men, its women, its young ones and its
elderly" (Arabic Language and the Science of Language,
grade 12, p 44). Hezbollah terror against Israel is likewise
justified, as one schoolbook rejects the UN ruling that Israel
has withdrawn to the international border, and likewise defines
Hezbollah's terror as "resistance" against "occupation."
1.3 Beyond teaching that Islam glorifies
their continuous Ribat, the books teach that international
law determines that fighting "colonial rule, foreign rule
and racist regimes ... is a legitimate struggle." These three
categories to be fought—"colonial, foreign, and racist"—are
all terms used in the schoolbooks to define Israel: (History
of the Arabs and the World in the 20th Century, grade 12, p 6)
1.4 Accordingly, any attempt to stop this
fight—that is, to stop Palestinians from fighting Israel—is
itself said to violate international law: "Any attempt
to suppress the struggle against colonial and foreign rule and
racist regimes is considered as contrary to the UN convention
and the declaration of principles of international law."
According to this, any country fighting Palestine terror would
be violating international law.
1.5 After Israel withdrew from Lebanon in
May 2000 the UN recognised it as complete. The PA school books
reject this, teaching that Israel has not completed its withdrawal
and that the Hezbollah terror is "resistance," fighting
"occupation".
The Israeli forces withdrew from it [Lebanon]
under pressure from the Lebanese national resistance in 2000,
except for the area of the Shab'a Farms, which is still under
Israeli occupation, and the Lebanese resistance for its liberation
continues.
(The History of the Arabs and the World in
the 20th Century, grade 12, p 83)
2. Palestine in a world with Israel
2.1 Numerous verbal lessons in the new schoolbooks
present Palestinian youth with a vision of a world without Israel.
It is important to note that in this and many of the following
examples, it is not a geographic area of "Palestine"
that is being defined, which could conceivably include Israel,
but a "state" (Arabic "Dawla" = state) called
"Palestine"—in place of the state of Israel.
2.2 The "state" of "Palestine"
is said to have water access to the Red Sea—a situation
possible only if Israel does not exist.
Coastal states differ in terms of their access
to water sources, such as ...: States located on sea coasts with
accesses to two seas, for example: Palestine and Egypt to the
Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.
(Physical Geography and Human Geography, grade
12, p 105)
Note: Neither the Gaza Strip nor West Bank
has access to the Red Sea. The Israeli city of Eilat has access,
and on Palestinian maps Eilat appears as part of Palestine.
2.3 The size of the State of "Palestine"
is said to be more than 10,000 square kilometers, which is not
possible as long as Israel exists. This teaches youth to picture
a world without Israel.
Classification of states according to [size of]
territory ...: Small states: Range is between 10,000 to 100,000
square kilometres, for example: Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and
Holland.
(Physical Geography and Human Geography, grade
12, p 107)
Note: If the full West Bank (5,860 square
kilometres) and Gaza Strip (360 square kilometres) were combined
they total 6,220 square kilometres. All the areas of Israel, the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip together equal 26,990 square kilometres.
2.4 Israel's Jewish history and connection
to the land are hidden. The following section defines the Israeli
cities of Jerusalem and Nazareth as "Palestinian cities",
with "holy sites to Islam and Christianity". There is
no mention of Jewish holy sites. Acknowledging Jewish holy sites
in Jerusalem would draw attention to the Jewish people's history
in the Land of Israel.
The Arab Homeland includes important religious
sites, visited by Muslim and Christian pilgrims from around the
world, which encourages religious tourism there, as in Palestine,
where there are holy sites to Islam and Christianity in Jerusalem,
Bethlehem, Hebron, Nazareth and in other Palestinian cities.
(Physical Geography and Human Geography, grade
12, p 143)
3. Rejection of Israel's right to exist
3.1 While "Palestine" is described
as existing in a world without Israel, Israel's founding is taught
and vilified as "a catastrophe that is unprecedented in history.
The Zionist gangs stole Palestine and expelled its people from
their cities, their villages, their lands and their houses, and
established the State of Israel." [Arabic Language, Analysis,
Literature and Criticism, grade 12, p 104] Israel is described
as foreign, colonialist, and imperialist. The youth are taught
that Israel's creation was immoral and Israel unequivocally has
no right to exist.
3.2 The Palestinian educators define Jews
as foreigners and colonialists in their own country of Israel.
While Israel is today a vibrant democracy with 11 Arab Knesset
members and one Druze, an Arab Minister and Supreme Court justice,
the schoolbooks liken Israel to the white minority regimes of
South Africa and Zimbabwe, calling it "racist." (Note:
The books cite South Africa and Zimbabwe as if the white rule
situations still exist.)
4. Holocaust Denial
4.1 The textbook History of the Arabs
and the World in the 20th Century teaches the military and
the political events of World War II in significant detail, including
sections on Nazi racist ideology, yet neither persecution of Jews
nor the Holocaust is mentioned. It is apparent that the PA educators
made an active decision to exclude the Holocaust from history.
The new book writes selectively about the issues of the Holocaust,
citing Nazi racist ideology and restrictions the Nazis placed
on "inferior" non-Aryan nations, yet it makes no reference
to the Holocaust or to Jews. The schoolbook even teaches about
the post-war trials of "senior Nazi leaders as war criminals"
(p 46) but make no mention of the crimes for which the
"war criminals" were on trial.
4.2 Separate sections of the history book
are devoted to the events leading to World War II, the battles
of the war on the Baltic Front, the Western Front, the African
Front, the Russian Front, the Far East Front, the El Alamein battle,
the defeat of the Axis forces, and Japan's defeat and the dropping
of the atomic bomb. But in the PA educators' version of world
war history, there is no Holocaust.
5. Terminology of disdain and demonisation
5.1 The terminology the educators have chosen
for the schoolbooks demonises Israel and reinforces the rejection
of Israel as a neighbour with a right to exist.
5.2 The following terms are used to refer
to Israel, its founders and its ideology:
"The Zionist gangs stole Palestine and expelled
the inhabitants ..."
(Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and
Criticism, grade 12, p 104)
"The occupation of its country by the Zionist
Enemy ..."
(Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and
Criticism, grade 12, p 122)
"... attempts carried out by the enemies
of this people."
(Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and
Criticism, grade 12, p 17)
5.3 The following terms are used to refer
to Israel's creation:
"Faced with this Zionist Imperialist plan,
Palestine's residents decided ..."
(Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and
Criticism, grade 12, p 103)
"The Zionist gangs stole Palestine and expelled
..."
(Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and
Criticism, grade 12, p 104)
5.4 The following terms are used to refer
to the Palestinian condition:
"Banished the Palestinian nation into exile"
(Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and
Criticism, grade 12, p 109)
"Massacred, and stole its land, its homes
and its holy sites."
(Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and
Criticism, grade 12, p 109)
6. Jihad, and Shahada—Martyrdom for
Allah
6.1 The new PA schoolbooks teach and idealise
Jihad—war for Islam—and Shahada—death
for Allah—as basic Islamic principles to which to aspire.
Jihad and Shahada are at times taught as general Islamic ideals,
and at times focused against Israel. This promotion is not limited
to the formal Islamic education books, but is found in many different
schoolbooks. Often the original Islamic sources from the Quran
or Hadith are used as the tool of promotion.
6.2 Grammar is taught by analysing a Quran
verse whose message is that believers who fight are said to be
superior to those believers who do not fight.
"Believers who sit at home, other than those
who are disabled, are not equal with those who strive and fight
in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives."
(Note: Passage from Quran, Sura of Al-Nissa,
verse 95)
(Arabic Language and the Science of Language,
grade 12, p 97)
6.3 The PA textbooks teach that everyone
participates in Jihad, especially when it becomes necessary, as
with the war to fight Israel and liberate "Palestine".
The textbooks also provide examples of disabled people, women
and elderly who participated in Jihad, presenting it as their
right.
6.4 People with physical and mental disabilities:
The rights of people with special needs in Islam:
The right of participating in society: The care
of Islam for the people with special needs is not restricted to
ensuring their needs, but takes interest in making them feel their
importance and their role in building the society. It does not
prevent them from participating in all domains, including:
— Permitting them to participate in
Jihad: Allah's Messenger permitted Amr ibn Al-Jamuh to participate
in the raid of Uhud, despite the fact that he was lame. Allah,
may he be praised and glorified, exempted him from Jihad, but
when the Messenger saw that he insisted on going and strove to
participate with the Muslims in Jihad, and heard him say: "I
want to march with my limp in Paradise"—he permitted
him to do so.
(Islamic Education, grade 12, pp 153-154)
6.5 Shahada, or death for Allah,
is an Islamic concept. The PA educators present Shahada as
an ideal to which all Muslims should aspire. A Shahid—often
translated as "Martyr"—is someone who has achieved
Shahada. The textbooks cite the Quran and the Hadith, traditions
and sayings attributed to Muhammad, to glorify the aspiration
to seek a violent Shahada death. The textbooks also mention that
Shahids are not considered dead, but live on in Paradise, and
their death is seen as a joyous wedding.
6.6 Shahids are not dead but live on with
Allah
Expressions of the Hardships [of Muslims]
Allah said: [Quran] "Do not say that those
killed in the name of God are dead. No, as they are alive, but
you cannot conceive that: We will test you with dangers and hunger
and losses of property and of souls and of crops." ... The
verse clarifies that these Shahids are alive with their
god, they are lively and are delighted with happiness and the
benevolence that Allah gave them, even if we do not sense these
lives, and we do not know their truthfulness, and therefore [the
Quran] forbade us to refer to them as "dead".
(Islamic Education, grade 12, p 9)
6.7 The Shahid's death as a wedding: The
Islamic tradition that the Shahid is rewarded with 72 Dark-Eyed
Maidens in Paradise leads to the Palestinian textbooks' describing
Shahada—death for Allah—as a "wedding".
Oh my Homeland, I won't cry during this wedding,
as our Arabness does not want us to cry over the Shahids; Al-Mutawakkil
Tah, Palestine
(Arabic Language and the Science of Language,
grade 12, p 13)
7. The promotion of a "clash of civilisations"
7.1 The depiction of the West as enemy is
cemented as the new PA schoolbooks divide the modern world into
two camps: the West and the Islamic-Arab world. The current relationship
is described as a "Clash of Civilisations" (Contemporary
Problems, grade 12, p 92). The West is taught to be primarily
responsible for this tension, for numerous reasons, including
colonialism, and the wars it has initiated which it has justified
in the name of "human rights."
7.2 The war in Iraq is taught to be an "occupation",
and terror attacks against British and US soldiers are "brave
resistance."
The U.S. and Britain [forces] ... stormed Iraqi
cities with the participation of military forces from different
countries and Baghdad fell. The Iraqis did not surrender to this
occupation but succeeded in organising themselves and a brave
resistance to liberate Iraq began.
(History of the Arabs and the World in the
20th Century, grade 12, p 147)
7.3 Britain is portrayed negatively as having
primary responsibility for helping the creation of Israel. No
mention is made that Britain was fulfilling an international decision
of the League of Nations in 1922 giving Britain the Mandate of
Palestine for the specific purpose of creation of a state for
Jews in the Jewish homeland: "recognition has thereby been
given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine
and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home".
(The Palestine Mandate: the Council of the League of Nations).
In as much, as the books deny Israel's right to exist, citing
Britain as responsible places them in a negative light.
7.4 The causes of the current clash between
the West and Islam are said to be:
(i) European colonialism.
(ii) Human rights abuses by the West.
(iii) The "tensions ... following the
events of 11 September ...;" the European prohibitions of
Islamic Hijab headdresses in schools, the Danish cartoons of Mohammed.
(iv) The West is "not serious about
having a dialogue" with the Muslim Arab world.
8. Minimising the peace agreements between
Israel and its neighbours
8.1 There seems to be an attempt to minimise
education about the peace processes between Israel and its neighbors.
In the book History of the Arabs and the World in the 20th
Century there is great detail about the wars, the British
Mandate period and Israel's establishment—but only minor
reference to a peace process, while the Oslo Accords are not even
mentioned. In the book Contemporary Problems, there is
nothing in the extensive sections on Israel and the Palestinians
about the peace process.
8.2 Another book focuses on the Arab world's
opposition to the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt:
The president of Egypt, Muhammad Anwar Al-Sadat,
visited Israel. The Camp David accord was signed in 1979. According
to it, Israel withdrew from Sinai. As a result, The Arab countries
terminated their relations with Egypt and the centre of the Arab
League was moved from Cairo to Tunis.
(History of the Arabs and the world in the
20th century, grade 12, p 88)
8.3 The Israel-Palestinian Olso Accords
are given very little mention. The books describe the signing
of the Oslo Accords: "Due to the political circumstances
in the Arab region following the Second Gulf War, a declaration
of principles (the Oslo Accords) was reached in 1993 ..."
Although it is not certain what the educators are hinting at,
Yasser Arafat and the PLO were at their weakest following the
Gulf War, after Arafat's support of Saddam Hussein's attack on
Kuwait, which had lost the PLO its financial base of support.
Due to the political circumstances in the Arab
region following the Second Gulf War, a declaration of principles
(the Oslo Accords) was reached in 1993 for solving the problem
of Palestine between the PLO and Israel, and it [America] plays
the lead role in the attempt to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Its latest political suggestion is the Roadmap plan.
(Contemporary Problems, grade 12, pp 22-23)
8.4 Beyond this, the Oslo Accords are not
mentioned, nor is the peace process.
9. Conclusions
9.1 One of the most meaningful gauges of
the ideology and aspirations of a people is the education of its
youth. For this reason, the new Palestinian Authority schoolbooks
introduced in the end of 2006 by the Palestinian Authority (PA)
Ministry of Higher Education apparatus are a continuation of the
tragic disappointment of the earlier books. Instead of seizing
the opportunity to educate future generations to live in peace
with Israel, the new PA schoolbooks teach their children to hate
Israel and vilify Israel's existence while they glorify terror.
Instead of working to minimise the current hate, the new PA curriculum
is ingraining it into the next generation's consciousness, and
packaging the conflict with as existential, mandatory and religious.
The hate indoctrination, combined with the definition of terror
against Israel as "most glorious heroism," could be
interpreted by some youths as recruitment manuals for terrorism.
9.2 The new PA schoolbooks are guaranteeing
that the next generation will grow up seeing Israel as an illegitimate
state, an enemy to be hated, fought, and destroyed, rather than
as a neighbor to negotiate with, and to ultimately live beside
in peace.
March 2007
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