Schoolbooks

עברית

Schoolbooks

In 2006, the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Higher Education introduced new 12th grade schoolbooks written by Palestinian educators who were appointed by the Fatah leadership. PMW reviewed these books and found that they make no attempt to educate for peace or coexistence with Israel. Instead Israel's right to exist is adamantly denied and the Palestinian war against Israel is presented as an eternal religious battle for Islam.

At a press conference releasing the PMW report in the US Senate building in February 2007, then US Senator Hillary Clinton said:

“These textbooks do not give Palestinian children an education; they give them an indoctrination. When we viewed this [PMW] report in combination with other media [from other PMW reports] that these children are exposed to, we see a larger picture that is disturbing. It is disturbing on a human level, it is disturbing to me as a mother, it is disturbing to me as a United States Senator, because it basically, profoundly poisons the minds of these children.”

The following is the full report on these latest PA schoolbooks. Earlier PMW reports on PA schoolbooks will be uploaded shortly.

Click here to view full report

Table of Contents:

Executive Summary [pp 3-5]

The Report
1. Fighting Israel until liberation - is religious battle of Islam [pp 6-8]
2. The "state" of "Palestine" exists in a world without Israel [pp 9-11]
3. A visual world without Israel: on all maps "Palestine" exists, Israel does not [p 12]
4. Rejection of Israel's right to exist: Israel's founding was "a catastrophe that is unprecedented in history" [pp 13-14]

5. Holocaust Denial: World War II without a Holocaust [p 15]

6. Palestinians depicted as victims of the racist "Zionist Enemy" [pp 16-17]
7. Terminology of disdain and demonization in schoolbooks [p 18]
8. Jihad and Shahada – Martyrdom for Allah [pp 19-22]
9. USA - enemy of Palestinians, leader of "Clash of Civilizations" [pp 23-29]
10. Minimizing the Peace Processes between Israel and its neighbors [p 30]

Conclusions [p 30]

Appendix 1: About the books - Palestinian Curriculum Development Center (PCDC) [p 32]
Appendix 2: Names of Palestinian Schools [pp 33-35]

Schoolbook: "Your enemies seek life while you seek death"

Source: Reading and Texts Part II, Grade 8, Jan. 1, 2010

PA schoolbook:
“O heroes, Allah has promised you victory... Don't talk yourselves into flight… Your enemies seek life while you seek death. They seek spoils to fill their empty stomachs while you seek a Paradise as wide as are the heavens and the earth... Death is not bitter in the mouth of the believers. These drops of blood that gush from your bodies will be transformed tomorrow into blazing red meteors that will fall down upon the heads of your enemies."
[Reading and Texts Part II, Grade 8, p. 16]

Note: This schoolbook has been in use since 2006.

Schoolbook: Rush to a Martyr's death

Source: Our Beautiful Language for 6th grade, Jan. 1, 2010

PA schoolbook:
The Shahid (The Martyr)

“I shall carry my soul in my palm and toss it into the abyss of destruction...
And then, either life, gladdening friends, or death, enraging the enemies.
By your life! I see my death, but I hasten my steps towards it...
By your life! This is the death of men.
And who asks for a noble death - here it is…”

Our Beautiful Language for 6th grade, section 1, p. 47;
Our Beautiful Language for 7th grade, section 1, p. 97.
Note: This schoolbook has been in use since 2006.

Enemies are barbarians who murder in cold blood

Source: Reading and Texts Part II, Grade 8, Nov. 23, 2008

PA Schoolbook:
"Your enemies have murdered your children, have sliced open the stomachs of your wives, have seized the beard of your honorable Sheiks and have driven them into the ditches of death."
[Reading and Texts Part II, Grade 8, p. 16]

Note: This schoolbook has been in use since 2006.