REPORT: SMALL PROGRESS IN REVISING PALI TEXTBOOKS

Report: Small Progress in Revising Palestinian Textbooks (American Jewish Committee)

• Seven years after the Palestinian Authority began publishing textbooks for use in West Bank and Gaza schools, there still is no recognition of the State of Israel and no advocacy of peace with it.
• Instead, the textbooks promote violent struggle, while hateful descriptions of Jews and the West remain prevalent, according to the report, "Palestinian Textbooks: From Arafat to Abbas and Hamas," co-published by AJC and the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (formerly the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace-CMIP).
• "While Israeli leaders speak openly of negotiating a two-state solution, Palestinian children are exposed to a rigid, narrow worldview in which Israel does not exist and Jews are considered subhuman enemies," said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris.
• "A negotiated settlement cannot succeed until Palestinian children are taught to live in peace with their Israeli neighbors."

      Read the Report (pdf)

FATAH LEADER, SCHOOL BOOKS SUPPORT TERROR V. U.S. IN IRAQ

Fatah leader, school books support terror against US in Iraq (Jihad Watch)
But remember: they sincerely want peace! "Fatah Leader, School Books Supports Terrorism Against US in Iraq," by Ezra HaLevi for Israel National News:

(IsraelNN.com) A leader of Mahmoud Abbas's US-backed Fatah party has come out in support of the terrorist war being fought against US and British forces in Iraq. PA text books for school children also push attacks on American and British forces.

Mahmoud Ismail, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, expressed his support for the war on the US during an interview on official Palestinian Authority (PA) TV, which is under the control of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The clip was recorded and translated by Palestinian Media Watch, which monitors incitement on PA television.

Ismail further defined the US -Britain alliance fighting in Iraq as the Arab Nation's "enemies, the imperialists," and justified the "right to struggle and to resistance [euphemism for terror -PMW] in all possible ways in all the occupied lands." Those occupied lands, he said, include "Palestine" and Iraq....

According to PMW, the PA schoolbooks were published with foreign money, primarily from Belgium....

FATAH IS FAR FROM "MODERATE"

Mideast Moment of Truth - Eric Cantor
Dressing Fatah, the organization founded by Yasser Arafat, in "moderate" garb is disingenuous. It is Fatah that works hand-in-glove with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, its declared military wing and personal terrorist appendage. Since 2000, the group has killed and maimed hundreds of Israelis in a relentless wave of suicide bombings. Largely because of Fatah's own doing, Palestinian media and textbooks teem with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic vitriol. Palestinian soccer teams and streets are named after suicide bombers, television shows glorify terrorists and guests on PA TV demonize Jews and urge their viewers to hate and kill Jews.

The administration should condition aid to the Abbas government on his promoting reform. Fatah must offer Palestinians something better than the engine of corruption and anti-Israel vitriol it has always been. Abbas can start by rooting out the incitement against Israelis that is a staple of Palestinian daily life. And by promoting clean and open government, Fatah can regain much of the trust it lost to Hamas over the years. The writer is a Republican congressman from Virginia. (National Review)

NEW PALI TEXTBOOKS REJECT EXISTENCE OF ISRAEL, PEACE

New Palestinian High School Textbooks Reject Existence of Israel, Peace - Or Kashti
New textbooks for 12th-grade Palestinian students reject the existence of Israel and make no attempt to educate students about peace or coexistence, according to Palestinian Media Watch. The textbooks were written by the Center for Developing the Palestinian Curricula and introduced by the PA at the end of 2006. The textbooks define Israel's founding as a theft perpetrated by "Zionist gangs," describe Israel as "colonial imperialist" and "racist," present the conflict as a religious war, and leave "no latitude for students to have positive or even neutral attitudes toward Israel," wrote PMW's Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook in a February report. "Maps of the region likewise teach children to visualize a world without Israel, as Israel does not exist on any map and its area is marked as 'Palestine.'" (Ha'aretz)