MIFTAH--The Myth of Incitement in Palestinian Textbooks

Since 1998, the “Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace” has persistently published reports claiming that Palestinian textbooks incite hatred against Israel and the Jewish people. While the Center claims “to encourage the development and fostering of peaceful relations between peoples and nations, by establishing a climate of tolerance and mutual respect founded on the rejection of violence as a means to resolving conflicts,” its attitude towards the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian Curriculum has been described as prosecutorial in nature. Being overly suspicious of their produced reports is well advised given that the Center’s first director, Itamar Marcus, is a right wing Israeli supporter and resident of the West Bank settlement of Efrat.

The Center’s work reveals a deeply flawed methodology aimed at misleading the reader. Furthermore, evidence reveals that the Center is fair, balanced, and understanding towards Israeli textbooks, but tendentious on Palestinian books. In short, the purpose is clearly to indict the textbooks and the PNA, rather than analyze and understand the content of the books. Were the Center to take a similar approach in other countries, including Israel, it could easily find comparable material.

Studies of Palestinian textbooks have revealed that any strong anti-Israel and anti-Semitic material in the curriculum comes from books that the Palestinians did not author and are replacing. (Ironically, these same books that were actually authored by Jordanians and Egyptians were distributed by Israel in east Jerusalem after only removing the cover.) Furthermore, books that were written by the Palestinian Authority in 1994, 2000, and 2001 are free of such material. Information gathered by the EU missions on the ground, as well as independent studies carried out by Israeli and Palestinian academics and educators that have examined the new textbooks, show that allegations against the new textbooks funded by EU members have proven unfounded

Below are the various reports, articles, and studies conducted on Palestinian textbooks exonerating them of inciting hatred towards Israel and the Jewish people:

IPCRI on Israeli and Palestinian text books

More on myth and prejudice in Israel:"Negative thinking" By Sarah Ozacky-Lazar Representations of Arabs in Israeli Jewish Society" by Yona Teichman and Daniel Bar-Tal, Ha'aretz June 24, 2005

Clarification from the Ministry of Education Regarding the Palestinian Curriculum and Textbooks

Battle of the Books in Palestine by Fouad Moughrabi in The Nation, 1 October 2001

Democracy, History and the Contest over the Palestinian Curriculum by Nathan J. Brown November 2001

Comparing Palestinian and Israeli Textbooks

What Did You Study In School Today, Palestinian Child?

What Do Palestinian Textbooks Really Say?

If You Are For Truth, You Seek The Truth First

Israel or Palestine: Who Teaches What History?

Palestinian Schoolbooks by Council of the European Union 15 May 2002

Israeli Textbooks and Children’s Literature Promote Racism and Hatred Toward Palestinians and Arabs