EU to Investigate Palestinian Schoolbooks for Incitement

The European Union has announced a review of new Palestinian school textbooks, which have been found to contain even more hatred and incitement than previous ones, despite many years of criticism and sanctions, The Times of Israel reported.

Following a study conducted by the NGO IMPACT (Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education), the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said on Wednesday that they would be looking into the matter.

“It can be confirmed that an academic study on Palestinian school textbooks is planned. Necessary funds have been reserved in the 2019 budget,” Mogherini said in response to a parliamentary question by Croatian MEP Marijana Petir.

She said the EU’s review would be carried out by an “independent and internationally recognized research institute” with the aim of “identifying possible incitement to hatred and violence and any possible lack of compliance with UNESCO standards of peace and tolerance in education.”

IMPACT published a 70-page expose of the textbooks last month in which it noted, among other things, that the curriculum for 2018-2019 “deliberately omits any discussion of peace education or reference to any Jewish presence in Palestine before 1948.”

“Most troubling, there is a systematic insertion of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects in a more extensive and sophisticated manner, embracing a full spectrum of extreme nationalist ideas and Islamist ideologies that extend even into the teaching of science and mathematics,” it said.

IMPACT CEO Marcus Sheff said in a statement Wednesday:

“There is no excuse nor is there any justification. The PA takes hundreds of millions of euros and in return, teaches violence, hate and the sacrificing of young lives.We hope this study will help put an end to the abuse and finally allow young Palestinians to receive meaningful peace education.”