In an ironic turnaround, the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) is now the object of intimidation and
threats made by many Palestinians.
UNRWA is reportedly planning to
introduce some changes to the curriculum in its schools in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, and the Palestinians are rather unhappy about it. They claim that
UNRWA has "succumbed" to Israeli pressure to make the changes.
The proposed changes are based on
leaks to Palestinians and have not been confirmed by UNRWA. Palestinians claim
that they learned about the plans to introduce the changes during meetings with
senior UNRWA officials.
According to
the Palestinians, the changes are intended to "eradicate" their
"national identity" and "history" and distort their
"struggle" against Israel.
The Palestinians claim that the
new textbooks have replaced the map of "historic Palestine"
(including Israel) with pictures of a pumpkin and a bird. Palestinian textbooks
often feature maps of "historic Palestine" without Israel. Cities
inside Israel, such as Haifa, Jaffa, Tiberias and Ramle, are referred to as
"Palestinian cities." The Palestinian Authority (PA) media also refer to
these cities as "Palestinian cities inside the 1948 Land."
In one fourth-grade textbook, the
Palestinians charge, UNRWA has replaced the map of Palestine with a picture of
a traditional Palestinian woman's dress.
The new textbooks make no
reference to cities in Israel; they mention only cities in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, such as Nablus, Jenin, Gaza City, Jericho and Ramallah.
Unsurprisingly, an UNRWA revision
of the Palestinian presumption of Jerusalem as the "capital of the State
of Palestine" to Jerusalem as a "Holy city for the Abrahamic
religions" did not go over well with Palestinians. In addition, they are angry because the UNRWA textbooks make no
mention of the Jordan Valley along the border between Israel and Jordan.
The controversial textbooks have
also removed photos of Israeli soldiers patrolling near schools and references
to Palestinian prisoners held in Israel for terrorism. Moreover, the new
textbooks are missing the previous references to "Palestinian Prisoners'
Day" -- an annual event marked by Palestinians in solidarity with
imprisoned terrorists.
Palestinians are also protesting
the removal of words such as "occupation" and "checkpoints"
from the new textbooks.
If true, the proposed changes to
the Palestinian textbooks should be welcomed as a positive development towards
ending anti-Israel incitement in Palestinian schools, including those belonging
to UNRWA. In light of the widespread Palestinian protests and threats, however,
it is doubtful whether UNRWA will succeed in making the proposed revisions.
For more on this go to https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10122/palestinians-poison-children
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