This is the fifth in a series of surveys by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (CMIP) on the new school textbooks published by the Palestinian Authority (PA) as part of the general project that began in 2000 to replace all the textbooks that were then in use in the PA schools. The present report covers the latest issue of 30 textbooks that were published by the PA Ministry of Education in 2004 for grades 5 and 10. CMIP has again adopted the same method followed in its earlier reports and applied the same criteria (see in the Introduction).

The findings are as follows:

...

• The Jews are hardly mentioned in historical contexts either in antiquity or in modern times (except in a special section on Zionism). Their strong historical ties to Palestine are virtually ignored - even in Christian Education textbooks that speak of Old and New Testament events. At the same time, the Canaanites, and all other ancient nations in the region, are presented as Arab nations, the forebears of the Arabs, including the Palestinians, of today.


• Although a seemingly objective quotation from the late Zionist and Israeli leader David Ben Gurion is given and an attempt is made to present Zionism's history objectively, Zionism is depicted as a racist movement with a strong connection to Western Imperialism. Moreover, the infamous "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" are treated as a historical document, said to constitute an integral part of Zionism, and described as the confidential resolutions of the first Zionist congress.


• As in earlier school books published by the PA, there is no recognition of any Jewish holy place as such.


• Similarly, Israel is not recognized as a sovereign state. Its name does not appear on any of the maps where, in some cases, the name "Palestine" appears instead. There is one sentence in which the phrase "the State of Israel" appears within quotation marks. Israel's pre-1967 territory is never mentioned as such and phrases like "the 1948 areas" are used instead. There are cases in which Palestine replaces Israel as the sovereign state in the region. Regions, sites and cities within pre-1967 Israel are described as Palestinian and once or twice the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are implicitly described as part of a larger Palestine. On the other hand, there is a sole reference to Israel as a sovereign state in an official document issued by Christian religious leaders, which is quoted in a Christian Education textbook.


• Israel's image is wholly negative: It has been an occupying entity since 1948, exclusively responsible for the Palestinian Catastrophe of that year and the source of violence. Israel shells schools, arrests and tortures people, demolishes Palestinian houses, blocks roads, oppresses the Palestinians - including by means of the "racist annexation and separation wall", steals Palestinian land and water, strives to destroy Muslim and Christian holy places, tries to impoverish the Palestinians and destroy their agriculture and economy, maltreats its own Palestinian citizens, etc. On the other hand there is one piece of literature that presents a dead enemy soldier as a human being...