Help UNRWA Schools Get Funding: Remove UNRWA War Education

UNRWA reports that its $1.2 billion budget, funded by 62 nations, cannot come up with the necessary $101 million to launch the new school year for 492,000 students who study in 699 UNRWA schools in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and Gaza.

Since the theme of UNRWA education is: “Peace Starts Here” – UNRWA could show leading donor nations, such as the US, which contributed $400 million to UNRWA last year, that it will remove school books from UNRWA classrooms that do not promote peace, and actually do just the opposite, in five categories:

1. De-legitimization of Jewish presence in the land of Israel, both past and present.

2. Promoting the canard that the Palestinians are direct descendants of the “Arab” Canaanites and Jebusites (Christian IEducation, Grade 2, 2010, p. 11; Our Beautiful Language, Grade 6, Part 2, 2012, p. 9; National Education, Grade 5, 2013, p. 30), an anthropological impossibility.

3. Asserting that Jews have “greedy ambitions” [atmaa’] in the country (National Education, Grade 7, 2013, p. 20).

4. Presenting all Jewish holy places (the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem) as Muslim holy places threatened by Jewish usurpation (National Education, Grade 7, 2013, pp. 21, 55).

5. Israel’s 6 million Jews are not counted among the country’s inhabitants, while Israel’s Arab population and the Palestinians of the Diaspora are (National Education, Grade 6, 2013, p. 10).

Here’s how this is done:

Jewish cities, including Tel Aviv, are not found on maps, except for one or two cases.

The Hebrew language is denied legitimacy: a Hebrew inscription is erased from a British Mandate stamp reproduced in a PA textbook (National Education, Grade 2, Part 1, 2007, p. 7).

Demonization of Jews is found in these cases (chosen from many possible examples) :

Compulsive Aggression and robbery (Reading and Texts, Grade 9, Part 2, 2013, pp. 51-53).

Genocidal intentions towards Palestinians (National Education, Grade 7, 2013, p. 20).

Unfaithfulness (Islamic Education, Grade 9, Part 1, 2013, question on p. 51).

Enmity to Muslims (Islamic Education, Grade 9, Part 2, 2013, p. 41).

Enmity to Christians (Christian Education, Grade 3, 2002, p. 86).

Non-recognition of Israel as a sovereign state is found, for example, in these cases:

Israel does not appear on the map except for two cases. Many maps bear the name “Palestine” instead (Examples: National Education, Grade 2, Part 1, 2007, p. 16; National Education, Grade 4, Part 2, 2013, p. 33).

Israel is not counted among the sovereign state of the region and its name is replaced by “Palestine” (Islamic Education, Grade 2, Part 1, 2013, p. 72; History, Grade 5, 2012, p. 27).

The term “Israeli territory” is replaced by circumlocutions such as “the Interior”, “the Lands of 1948″ and “the Green Line” (National Education, Grade 4, Part 1, 2013, p. 43; National Education, Grade 6, 2013, p. 10)

Regions, cities and sites in pre-1967 Israel are described exclusively as Palestinian (Our Beautiful Language, Grade 5, Part 2, 2012, p. 90 National Education, Grade 2, Part 2, 2013, p. 25; National Education, Grade 6, 2013, p. 13), while the student is led to believe that Palestinian refers to the group that now calls itself Palestinian but did not at the time..

Demonization of Israel as a source of evil is found here, for example:

Expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland (Geography, Grade 9, 2013, p. 40; National Education, Grade 6, 2013, p. 12).

Massacre of Palestinians (National Education, Grade 6, 2013, p. 12).

Killing of Palestinian children (Our Beautiful Language, Grade 7, Part 2, 2013,p. 58; Reading and Texts, Grade 8, Part 2, 2013, p. 28; Reading and Texts, Grade 8, Part 1, 2013, p. 32).

Destruction of Palestinian cities and villages (Reading and Texts, Grade 8, Part 1, 2013, p. 61; National Education, Grade 7, 2013, p. 55).

Desecration of Muslim and Christian holy places (Christian Education, Grade 5, 2004, p. 81; National Education, Grade 7, 2013, p. 55).

Pollution of Palestinian soil (Civics, Grade 6, 2013, p. 55; Health and the Environment, Grade 8, 2012, p. 112).

Robbery of Palestinian water resources (Our Beautiful Language, Grade 6, Part 1, 2013, p. 48).

Attempts at the obliteration of Palestinian identity and heritage (National Education, Grade 7, 2013, pp. 44, 54).

Responsibility for Palestinian in-family violence (Civics, Grade 8, 2013, p. 55) Advocacy of the “Right of Return”, through violent struggle, Jihad and martyrdom.

The Right of Return is found here, for example:

(Islamic Education, Grade 6, Part 1, 2012, p. 69; Our Beautiful Language, Grade 5, Part 1, 2013, p. 91; History, Grade 5, 2012, p. 7; National Education, Grade 2, Part 1, 2007, p. 36; National Education, Grade 4, Part 1, 2013, p. 43; National Education, Grade 5, 2013, p. 35; National Education, Grade 7, 2013, p. 21).

The return of the refugees by force of arms(Our Beautiful Language, Grade 5, Part 1, 2013, p. 50; Our Beautiful Language, Grade 7, Part 1, 2013, p. 28).

Violent struggle as the only way to liberate Palestine (never specifically restricted to the territories of the ‘West Bank’ and Gaza alone – Our Beautiful Language, Grade 3, Part 2, 2013, p. 83; Our Beautiful Language, Grade 4, Part 2, 2012, pp. 20-21) Reading and Texts, Grade 9, Part 1, 2013, pp. 9-10, 12).

Exaltation of Jihad (Islamic Education, Grade 7, Part 2, 2013, p. 60; Reading and Texts, Grade 8, Part 1, 2013, p. 44).

Glorification and Call for martyrdom (Islamic Education, Grade 6, Part 1, 2012, p. 22, Our Beautiful Language, Grade 6, Part 1, 2013, p. 89; Our Beautiful Language, Grade 7, Part 1, 2013, p. 75; Our Beautiful Language, Grade 7, Part 2, 2013, p. 49; Linguistic Studies, Grade 8, Part 2, 2012, p. 60).

Glorification of “prisoners of war” [convicted members or supporters of Palestinian terrorist organizations] (Our Beautiful Language, Grade 2, Part 1, 2013, p. 165; Our Beautiful Language, Grade 5, Part 2, 2012, p. 29; Our Beautiful Language, Grade 6, Part 1, 2013, p. 66).

Unless these inappropriate texts are removed from UNRWA schools, you cannot expect people to “feed the hand that bites them”.

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(Research for this piece provided by Journalist Dr. Arnon Groiss, who holds a PHD in Islamic Studies from Princeton. Dr. Groiss has worked in the Arabic language Service of IBA News for the past 41 years.)