Palestinian Authority and UNRWA schools continue to use textbooks that radicalise children against Israel, parliamentarians in the UK said.
MP Jonathan Gullis, who initiated the debate with Minister of State James Cleverly, displayed a reading comprehension textbook for 10-year-olds that praised Dalal al-Mughrabi, who killed 38 Israelis including 13 children, on a bus in 1978.
Gullis cited research by IMPACT-se, a research institute analysing textbooks, which reviewed 202 such books from the current Palestinian curriculum, finding “a systematic insertion of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects, where the possibility of peace with Israel is rejected.”
MP Stephen Crabb questioned “why there has been so little progress” in removing incitement from textbooks, pointing out that “concerns have been constantly raised by members across parties in this house about the use of inciteful language in textbooks – which, whether directly or indirectly, UK aid has helped to finance.”
Labour Friends of Israel chairman MP Steve McCabe said: “I strongly support a two-state solution – and it is precisely because of that support that I believe it is imperative that we tackle the issue of radicalisation in the Palestinian school curriculum.
The textbooks “seek to pass on old hatreds and prejudices to a new generation of young people,” McCabe added. “It’s a barrier to reconciliation and coexistence, is pernicious and simply unacceptable.”
MPs also demanded that a long-awaited EU review of Palestinian textbooks be made public.
Cleverly responded that “antisemitism is unacceptable in all its forms. It is offensive, it is hateful and has no place anywhere in society, least of all in the classrooms.”
“These are serious allegations and we take them seriously,” he added.
IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said the MPs “exhibited a great deal of frustration – that years after the issue of hate in Palestinian textbooks was raised in parliament, no changes have been made.”
Sheff also said the European Commission has a responsibility to countries funding the Palestinian Education Ministry to make its report on Palestinian textbooks available to the public.
