Image: IMPACT – se
The European parliament last week passed a resolution condemning the Palestinian Authority over “hateful” content in its textbooks and conditioning future educational funding on the removal of antisemitic material.
The vote marked the fourth consecutive year that the parliament has passed a resolution criticising Ramallah for the content of its educational curriculum.
This year’s resolution was “noticeably more critical of the PA” compared with previous years, according to the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se).
The resolution directly linked the content of PA textbooks with funds for Palestinian terrorism, in particular attacks by young people, for the first time.
It stated that the EU “deplores the problematic and hateful material in Palestinian school textbooks and study cards which has still not been removed” and “underlined that education and pupils’ access to peaceful and unbiased textbooks is essential, especially in the context of the rising implication of teenagers in terrorist attacks”.
It continued: “financial support […] shall be provided on the condition that textbook content is aligned with UNESCO standards”, demanding that “all anti-Semitic references are deleted, and examples that incite hatred and violence are removed, as repeatedly requested”.