search
David Bedein

Accusations against Israel in PA Textbooks Used by UNRWA

Dr. Arnon Groiss, whose research you can find on our sites listed below, finds that  the following accusations against Israel appear in the new PA textbooks used by UNRWA.

Shlomo Lahat, of blessed memory, the first commander of the  Israel Civil Administration in 1967, explained to us that the IDF Israel Civil Administration is supposed to vet all textbooks used in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Ever since the PA began to publish its own text books, on August 1, 2000, the Israel Civil Administration does not do that. Ever since that date, UNRWA uses the PA as the sole source of its text books.

In the words of Dr. Groiss:

Demonization of Israel (and the Jews) is one of three fundamentals characterizing the Palestinian Authority curriculum regarding the conflict (the other two being de-legitimization of both Israel’s existence and its Jewish citizens’ very presence in the country, and advocacy of a violent struggle against it instead of a call for peace and co-existence).

The present outline, based on three consecutive studies in recent years in which 364 PA textbooks were carefully examined, concentrates on one aspect of the demonization campaign: namely, the enumeration of various accusations against Israel that appear in new school books, as follows:

1.     Occupation of most of Palestine in 1948 and the remainder in 1967.

2.     Expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland and forcing them into refugee camps to this very day.

3.     Brutal treatment of the occupied Palestinans.

4.     Perpetration of massacres against Palestinians in general.

5.     Assassination of Palestinian leaders.

6.     Murdering and maiming Palestinian children.

7.     Aggression against Palestinians and other Arabs.

8.     Confiscation of Palestinian land.

9.     Stealing of Palestinian water.

10.  Taking control of Palestinian natural resources.

11.  Killing of Palestinian cities.

12.  Demolition of Palestinians’ houses.

13.  Uprooting trees.

14.  Besieging the Palestinians and hindering their free movement.

15.  Building of the “racist separation and annexation wall”.

16.  Maltreatment of Palestinian “prisoners of war”.

17.  Falsely claiming that Palestinian struggle for liberation is terrorist activity.

18.  Torture of Palestinian school students.

19.  Carrying out excavations under the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to cause its collapse.

20.  Desecration of Muslim and Christian holy places.

21.  Imposition of restrictions upon Gaza’s fishermen.

22.  Crippling Palestinian economy.

23.  Harming Palestinian tourism industry.

24.  Responsibility for unemployment among Palestinians.

25.  Responsibility for physical and mental disabilities in Palestinian society.

26.  Responsibility for in-family violence within Palestinian society.

27.  Encouragement of drug abuse among Palestinian youth.

28.  Causing suffering to Palestinian families and women in particular.

29.  Racist treatment of Israel’s Palestinian citizens.

30.  Responsibility for poverty among Palestinians.

31.  Denial of adequate education.

32.  Neglect of health services and attacks on Palestinian rescue teams.

33.  Imposition of restrictions on Palestinian communication media.

34.  Obliteration of Palestinian cultural heritage.

35.  Pollution of Palestinian environment.

36.  Violation of international law and human rights.

37.  Responsibility for cancer cases among Palestinians in Hebron due to the Israeli nuclear reactor in Dimona.

38.  Setting loose herds of wild boars against Palestinian crops.

39.  Depriving the Palestinians of adequate supply of energy.

40.  Endangering the Palestinians’ nutritive security.

41.  Destructive impact on Palestinian population centers.

42.  Desertification of Palestine.

ת.ד. 71098  בית אגרון, רח’ הלל 37, ירושלים 94581   ◼     02-6236368
ctrforneareastpolicyresearch@gmail.com  ◼  http://www.cfnepr.com

About the Author
David Bedein, who grew up in Philadelphia and moved to Israel in 1970 at the age of 20, is an MSW community organizer by profession and an expereinced investigative journalist. In 1987 he established the Israel Resource News Agency, with offices at the Beit Agron Int’l Press Center in Jerusalem, where he also serves as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research. In 1991, Bedein was the special CNN middle east radio correspondent. Since 2001, Bedein has contributed features to the newspaper Makor Rishon. In 2006, Bedein became the foreign correspondent for the Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. He is the author of " The Genesis of the Palestinian Authority" and "ROADBLOCK TO PEACE- How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict: UNRWA policies reconsidered"and the director and producer of the numerous short films about UNRWA policy which can be located at: http://tinyurl.com/lxc6xvs