Palestinian children at a Ramallah kindergarten

CAIRO, December 18 (IslamOnline.net) – Thorough independent analyses of the Palestinian curricula by respected US and European research institutes found Palestinian textbook free from any incitement to hatred, a leading international newspaper reported on Saturday, December 18.

The International Herald Tribune said research bodies and institutes such as the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) and the European Georg Eckert Institute found no ground for repeated allegations that Palestinian schoolchildren were being taught to hate the Jews.

Research papers have been published in international fora such as the Hebrew University's Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, the Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture, and presented at the Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

“No country's textbooks have been subjected to as much close scrutiny as the Palestinian,” the paper said.

At the political level, a US Senate subcommittee on Palestinian education and the Political Committee of the European Parliament have both held hearings on the matter, the mass-circulation daily added.

Peaceful  

An Israeli soldier is seen standing near a group of Palestinian schoolchildren in a school outing

The Tribune cited an EU statement, which ruled as “unfounded” Israeli allegations that Palestinian schools were a breeding ground for “terrorists.”

It further said an IPCRI 2003 report stated that the overall orientation of the Palestinian curricula was “peaceful” and did not incite to hatred or violence against Israel and Jews.

The IPCRI 2004 report, additionally, said there are no signs of promoting hatred toward Israel, Judaism or Zionism, nor toward the Western Judeo-Christian tradition or values.

“There are objective studies showing that Palestinian textbooks in many ways are better than Israeli textbooks when it comes to ‘the other,’ and way ahead of Jordanian and Egyptian textbooks,” Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian Legislative Council member for the occupied Jerusalem district, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, December 16.

“Palestinian children don't have to learn about violence from textbooks or TV. All they have to do is watch the news. All they have to do is live in an area that is bombed or shelled or where their parents are arrested or beaten up,” she added.

War-Ingrained Identity

The Tribune further criticized the “war-ingrained identity” of Israeli textbooks.

“What little independent research has been done on Israeli textbooks gives grounds for serious concern about what is happening to future generations on that side of the wall. Peace might feel threatening to a war-ingrained identity,” it said.

The paper ridiculed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s claims that Palestinian textbooks were a major threat to peace.

“If that is so, education for peace and conflict resolution has become the greatest threat to Israel.”

The biggest constraint, in the words of a Palestinian parent, is that Israeli tanks and soldiers are shooting in the streets outside while teachers are trying to promote peace in the classroom, The Tribune added.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, some 821 children (less than 18) have been killed by trigger-happy Israeli occupation troops since the eruption of the second Palestinian Intifada on September 28, 2000.

The latest victim was seven-year-old Rana, who was killed last week in a bloody Israeli raid into the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Khan Yunis.

On October 13, a 10-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl died of her wounds after Israeli occupation troops shot her in the chest while sitting inside a United Nations school in a Gaza refugee camp.

A week earlier, Iman Al-Hams, another Palestinian girl, was riddled with 20 Israeli bullets while on her way to school, smiling and running to school.