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David Frankfurter brought his family to Ra'anana, Israel from their native Sydney, Australia in 1992. He is a business consultant, corporate executive and writer who frequently comments on the Middle East conflict.
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By David Frankfurter
January 1, 2004
Italy's six-month Presidency of the European Union has left an indelible mark on the Middle East. Trade links are being re-established with Syria. For the first time, the EU has insisted that acts against Israel not be excluded from UN condemnations of terror. And Britain, France and others are beginning to be concerned about the particular challenges posed by the export of radical Islamic educational teachings from the region to mainland Europe.
Italy did not wait for the presidency before taking an active role. Italy was instrumental in the solution of the May 2002 impasse over the terrorist siege of the Bethlehem Church of the Nativity. It would be fair to say that Italy has consistently shown sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians.
In particular, Italy has seen education as a vehicle for positive change. Along with Belgium, UNESCO and others, Italy has recognized that until the next generation of Palestinians ceases to be educated towards hatred of Jews and Israelis, there can be no hope for peace in the region. They quietly proceeded to fund the replacement of the old virulently anti-Semitic Jordanian and Egyptian textbooks that were being used in Palestinian schools.
The European Union has also been involved in this process, directly and indirectly. It issued a press release, stating that these new, upgraded, books being used by the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA, while "not perfect," were an improvement "constituting a valuable contribution to the education of young Palestinians."
The most telling indication of the "lack of perfection" of this "valuable contribution to the education of young Palestinians" is that in December 2000, in response to electoral pressure when the content of the new books became public, Italy instructed the World Bank to divert its funding to 'other activities.' Finland, the Netherlands and Ireland are attributed with stepping into the financial breech.
Two Non Governmental Organizations recently analyzed the imperfections of the revised Palestinian schoolbooks. The Funding for Peace Coalition published an analysis of some of the flaws on their website, including pictures and quotes from some of the schoolbooks themselves. The Prism Group issued a more detailed study, entitled Palestinian Children: What are they being taught? This includes an analysis of the various professional disputes surrounding the material (and some discussion of the influences outside the schoolroom).
Both groups reach similar conclusions. The new revised teaching materials now contain a subtler form of anti-Semitism, and are still a far cry from providing the kind of education that could create the basis for peace. These texts deny the historical or current association of Jews with the Holy Land; they deny the very existence of the State of Israel, encourage the concept that all of the territory from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean (including Israel) is rightly Palestine - and possibly most dastardly, they teach that martyrdom is a high ideal to be strived for and achieved by every child. According to basic UNESCO standards, the children are being subjected to politicized and substandard material - a fundamental abuse of their rights.
Two questions beg to be asked. The first relates to supervision by the funding countries. Is this is an acceptable result for the money invested? Could one have expected a better "return on investment"? It may be a step forward, but is that enough? Could one have demanded more, given the starting point?
The project took several years. To exchange books again would be another step, presumably taking several more years. How can the region afford to raise another generation of misinformed, disillusioned, angry people, who have no basic knowledge or acceptance of their hated neighbors?
A second and equally pertinent question is: what must the average Palestinian child think when taught from these books that appear to call for intensification to the conflict? What enters the students mind when each and every book - some printed this educational year - carries a dedication thanking Italy, Belgium, UNESCO and others for their professional and financial assistance in producing it? Surely the child will think that the world has given firm and formal approval to a Jew-free Palestine from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. This is the same "UN stamp of approval" given when this 'new geography' of the Middle East is taught in the UNRWA Teachers' Training College in Ramallah, or when UNRWA schools infiltrated by Hamas affiliated teachers spread their hatred and encourage martyrdom, or when UNICEF sponsored summer camps glorify suicide bombers and other murdering terrorists.
Palestinian schoolchildren reaching Grade 11 this year will fully understand where all this internationally sponsored education is leading, when they receive "Islamic Culture". This newly printed text (paid out of the EU supported PA budgets) will oblige him to Jihad - "use of physical force" - against anyone who does not wish to convert to Islam, and to execute anyone converting out of Islam. Jihad, the schoolchild will be told, is a personal duty when "the enemy is present in a Muslim country." From his previous years at school he will know who must be engaged in battle - even if his teachers, his summer camps, his clerics and his television screen were not to have explicitly told him. There is no doubt that this personal, religious obligation is directed against Israel.
The level of European financial support for the PA since 1993 has been staggering. At least $5 billion has been transferred directly or through organizations such as UNRWA, which are heavily committed to maintaining the Palestinian education system. Contributions from the USA, Canada and the billions from Arab countries must be added to these figures.
It is known that around 90% of the EU budgets do not pass audit. For nearly a year now, two investigations have been grinding their way to finding out what the Palestinians have done with European money. Should we hold our breath?
It is not enough to do as Italy did when confronted with the evidence of abuse of their goodwill to promote hatred. Diverting funds to 'other areas,' simply frees these 'other' budgets for reallocation to promoting hatred. EU budgets must not be used to print a war curriculum. Allowing its endorsement to remain on the schoolbooks misleads school children into thinking that the world supports action to create Jew-free Middle East. The international community should supervise its funds much more closely. When breaches are detected, it must unequivocally withdraw its support, funding and endorsement. It must insist on change toward a peace curriculum in both formal and informal education as an immovable pre-condition of any and all aid.
Obviously, when significant sums are allocated to change an entrenched system, better controls are required. As Italy's presidency of the EU draws to a close, one wonders whether the new Irish presidency will prevail over the Brussels bureaucracy, and introduce the necessary change. The European taxpayer deserves no less - and the Palestinian child deserves much more.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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