Ariel Center for
Policy Research
A JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND THE ARTS
|
|
|
|
|
A JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND THE ARTS |
||
|
NATIV ■ Volume Twelve ■ Number 1 (66) ■ January 1999 ■ Ariel Center for Policy Research |
|
SYNOPSIS |
|
A group of specialists in the Arabic language examined 140 textbooks currently in use and authorized by the Ministry of Education of the Palestinian Authority. The textbooks cover all grades of public education (1 to 12), and are directed at the teaching of Civics, Grammar, Literature, History, Geography and Islamic Studies. Examiners selected statements reflecting attitudes or evaluations of Israel, Jews, Judaism and Zionism, but selections were made only if these were recurrent statements that could be considered typical themes expressed in the book. The main question asked here is: Can the general orientation toward Israel and the Jews taught to the schoolchildren of the Palestinian Authority serve as a basis for a genuine rapprochement between Palestinian Arabs and the Jews? Isn't such a relationship expected on the basis of the Oslo and Wye River accords? Do the schoolbooks of the PA reflect a different orientation than the hostile behavior and propaganda directed by the Arabs toward Israel and the Jews over most of the 20th century, or is education in the Palestinian Authority a continuation of the old policies?
The message of the PA's schoolbooks is expressed loud and clear, and incessantly, needing no sophisticated interpretation. Israel and the Jews are the enemy of the Palestinians, of the Arabs, of Islam, and, for that matter, of humanity. Every Moslem is duty bound to engage in Jihad (Holy War) against the conqueror of Arab soil, and against the enemy of Islam. Jihad means that each one must be ready to kill and be killed, to sacrifice life and limb, as well as one's property, for the sake of Allah, knowing that anyone who dies in battle for Islam will be rewarded in Paradise. This reward promises fame and endless orgiastic indulgence with droves of virgin maidens, drowned in limitless quantities of alcoholic beverages forbidden to Moslems on earth. These lessons learned from teachers and books are impressed on the minds and feelings of the Palestinian children by the incessant repetition of public rituals surrounding the funerals of slain terrorists, as well as by the blood-drenched scenes of Jews driving their cars in the territory of the PA who are frequently accosted and stoned (with large boulders) by gangs of juveniles and young men.
A profound change in policy and in the behavior of the PA and its educators, at all levels of education, are prerequisite for establishing any kind of conciliatory atmosphere that could serve as a basis for co-existence between Arabs and Jews living in proximity to one another without perpetual warfare.
This paper was published in English as the ACPR's Policy Paper No. 58, 1999
|