US State Department cites Jerusalem-based monitor's findings on PA textbooks

(JNS) - A U.S. State Department report on June 2 features research by a Jerusalem-based monitor of educational material in Palestinian Authority textbooks and their systematic messaging regarding the promotion of violence, martyrdom and jihad.

Research by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Culture Tolerance in School Education found that textbooks made for "all grades and subjects" in Palestinian schools contained such incitement.

The report also discussed IMPACT-se's critique of the Georg Eckert Institute report on Palestinian Authority textbooks, "which ambiguously classify the curriculum as promoting UNESCO standards, despite overtly anti-Semitic content," IMPACT-se said in a statement on Tuesday.

IMPACT-se is quoted by the State Department as stating that the GEI report includes "omissions, obfuscations and even apologetics for Jew-hate and violence," and that, in fact, "the P.A. curriculum moved further from meeting UNESCO standards and that the newly published textbooks were found to be more radical than those previously published," according to the organization.

The State Department's 2021 "Report on International Religious Freedom," published last week, featured four of IMPACT-se's country curriculum reports from last year. The State Department report is used to inform U.S. policy and to promote global religious freedom.

It also cites IMPACT-se reports on significant changes in Saudi Arabian textbooks, such as the removal of content "forbidding friendships with Jews and Christians," the presentation of Jews and Christians as "infidels ... enemies of God," as well as claims that the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount was "fabricated by rabbis."

The State Department's section on Qatar cites IMPACT-se's June and December reports on the Gulf country, directly quoting the conclusion that the country "still ha[s] a long way to go when it comes to removing hateful content and consistently teaching tolerance ... yet the improvements that have occurred over the last two academic years in Qatar are still a pleasant surprise."

IMPACT-se's first report on the Yemeni curriculum is cited in the State Department's Report, reaffirming "disturbing assessments," said the organization. The report quotes IMPACT-se finding that the Yemeni curriculum serves as a "blueprint for radicalization, and would incite violence and hate."