Archive – 2019

JNS — December 19, 2019
The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill which will require the U.S. secretary of state to review Palestinian Authority and United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) educational materials on an annual basis. The legislation is the result of a report by educational watchdog group Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se). “The new Palestinian curriculums fail to meet the international standards of peace and tolerance in educational materials established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,” the bill states. “Textbooks used by the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA encourage war, and teach children that Palestinian statehood can be achieved through violence,” said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff. “We must demand transparency over the anti-Israel textbooks in this program that are fueling another generation of hate.”

Cleveland Jewish News (JNS Summary)

The Jerusalem Post — December 19, 2019
The House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed H.R. 2343 on Wednesday, called the Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act. The legislation includes a sense in Congress that the PA and UNRWA have not eliminated content that encourages violence, antisemitism, hate and intolerance toward other nations or ethnic groups from the curriculums used in their schools. The resolution is a result of a report by the IMPACT-se, which monitors values of peace and tolerance in textbooks across the Middle East from Tunisia to Saudi Arabia, including Israel and the Palestinian territories. “We are delighted that Rep. Brad Sherman and Rep. Lee Zeldin have taken firm leadership roles on the eradication of hate in Palestinian textbooks, IMPACT-se CEO, Marcus Sheff said in a statement. “This bill will effectively determine whether U.S. tax dollars have gone to fund—directly or indirectly—the PA curriculum, and will inform Congress about the state of Palestinian textbooks if the U.S. government plans any future funding of education programs in the Palestinian Authority,” he added.

CBN –December 19, 2019
The House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed a bipartisan bill called the Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act on Wednesday that seeks to hold the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) accountable for the textbooks it uses in Palestinian schools. The measure was created after the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) released a report that studied the inclusion or exclusion of the peace and tolerance values in textbooks in schools across the Middle East, including Israel and the Palestinian territories. “We are delighted that Rep. Brad Sherman and Rep. Lee Zeldin have taken firm leadership roles on the eradication of hate in Palestinian textbooks and that the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously voted for it to be marked up,” IMPACT-se CEO, Marcus Sheff, said in a statement. Danny Danon, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, applauded the decision. “We see the incitement, we see what they are doing in the camps. They are not helping the Palestinians,” Danon told CBN News.

Breitbart — December 19, 2019
The House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed a “peace and tolerance” resolution on Wednesday that calls for Palestinian school textbooks to stop “encouraging war and violence, anti-Semitism, hate and intolerance.” The resolution demands that the secretary of state review educational material used by the Palestinian Authority or UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees that handles a large percentage of Palestinian education. The bill was based on reports by education monitor IMPACT-se, whose mandate covers the entire region. “We are delighted that Rep. Brad Sherman and Rep. Lee Zeldin have taken firm leadership roles on the eradication of hate in Palestinian textbooks, and that the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously voted for it to be marked up,” IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said in a statement. “It is unacceptable [that] the textbooks that are used delegitimize Israel and demonize the Jewish people … Every school day, 1.3 million Palestinian children are radicalized and their rights to a harm-free childhood destroyed as they are taught to embrace hate, violence and extremism in PA and UNRWA schools,” he said.

The Algemeiner — December 18, 2019
A bi-partisan bill: “Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act,” that would commit the U.S. State Department to annually review educational materials used by the Palestinian Authority for encouraging violence or intolerance was marked up on Wednesday by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, putting it on track for a vote by the House of Representatives. The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se)—a Jerusalem-based watchdog that backs reforms for the Palestinian curriculum, and which has supported the U.S. legislation—said the bill “passed a crucial threshold” following months of work. “The U.S. Congress has joined the United Nations, the European Union and leading European nations that fund the Palestinian Ministry of Education in stating that teaching antisemitism, hate and purposefully removing peacemaking from the textbooks will no longer be tolerated,” said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff. A September review by the watchdog group of new educational materials used in the 2019–20 academic year found “a systematic insertion of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects.”

Ynet — December 8, 2019
The Norwegian Parliament decided last week to cut funding for the education system of the Palestinian Authority, due to evidence of the existence of materials inciting violence, terrorism, and martyrdom in school curricula across the Palestinian territory. This unprecedented announcement follows a report made by the Jerusalem-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), that brings to light the widespread radicalization rampant within the Palestinian education system. “It was a mistake by the Palestinian Deputy Minister of Education and the others in their organized campaign to lie about the content of the textbooks in the press,” IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said. These things can be easily checked, and no legislator likes to be purposefully misled.”

i24(Arabic) December 8 2019 (Updated)
The Norwegian parliament ordered for the first time to “reduce or freeze” aid funds granted to the Palestinian Ministry of Education in the event that the contents considered “inflammatory” are not removed from new teaching books issued last August; in the official and unprecedented statement that was published Thursday, Parliament described Education programs in the Palestinian Authority are “destructive to the peace process.” The announcement comes on the heels of a massive media policy campaign last month in Norway by the research institute IMPACT-se, which published a report accusing the contents of the Palestinian Authority’s platform of extremism and fundamentalism; this report caused a great media outcry in the country.

Hamodia — December 8, 2019
Luxembourg is reportedly urging the European Union to recognize Palestine as a state, while the Norwegian Parliament recently decided to cut funding for the educational system of the Palestinian Authority, due to evidence of the existence of materials inciting violence, terrorism, and martyrdom in school curricula across the Palestinian territory, Ynet reported. The evidence was provided in a report produced by the Jerusalem-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se).

The Jerusalem Post — December 6, 2019
Ruling coalition in Norwegian parliament angered over references to violence, martyrdom and terror found in Palestinian Authority school textbooks. A report issued by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) given to the Norwegian parliament has led to calls by the ruling coalition to withhold funding for the Palestinian Authority (PA). The ruling coalition announced on Thursday, December 5, that it will instruct the government to “reduce or withhold financial support to the Palestinian Authority if they do not provide satisfactory improvements in school materials within a reasonable time.”

The Algemeiner — December 5, 2019
The Norwegian parliament called on the Palestinian Authority on Thursday to remove violent, racist and antisemitic materials from its school curriculum, or else face a drop or cessation in funding. A majority in the Storting’s 16-member Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense agreed that financial support to the Palestinian Authority should be cut or reduced “if they do not provide satisfactory improvements to the school materials,” Aftenposten, Norway’s largest circulation newspaper, reported. The move follows a November report in Aftenposten that featured examples of incitement to violence and racial hate in Palestinian school materials, based on findings by the Jerusalem-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se).

MIFF — December 5, 2019
The Norwegian parliament’s ruling majority has asked the government to reduce or withhold financial support to the PA if they do not provide satisfactory improvements in school material within a reasonable time. New Palestinian school books are much more extreme than before. Violence, martyrdom and jihad have been the subject of all twelve years in Palestinian elementary [and secondary] school, according to a recent report on the school books by IMPACT-se, an institute that examines different countries’ school curricula according to UNESCO’s standards for peace and tolerance in education.

JTA — December 5, 2019
Members of Norway’s ruling coalition demanded that contributions to the Palestinian Authority be suspended over incitement in school textbooks. In a statement Thursday, coalition lawmakers said they are instructing the government to “reduce or withhold financial support to the Palestinian Authority if they do not provide satisfactory improvements in school materials.” If implemented, it would spell the loss of $24 million in funding for the Palestinian Authority, according to a statement by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, a Jerusalem-based advocacy group. The coalition’s statement cites a recent review by the institute of textbooks being used in Palestinian Authority schools. “Examples of content in the school books include references to violence, martyrdom and terror. The coalition considers this to be devastating to the peace process and the development of democracy in the region, as well as being an expression of irresponsible pedagogy, and finds it unacceptable that Norwegian funds support a school system that promotes such destructive values,” the statement said.

Other news outlets with JTA story include:
The Jerusalem Post
South Florida Sun Sentinal
Cleveland Jewish News

The Algemeiner — November 18, 2019
High school matriculation exams serve to reinforce “hateful content” taught in Palestinian schools, underscoring “the need for an urgent and determined intervention in the Palestinian curriculum,” a Jerusalem-based watchdog has warned. In a report released this month, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) found that six of the 26 tawjihi exams for 2019, which are taken by twelfth-grade Palestinian students and are necessary for enrollment in Palestinian and some Arab universities, included “problematic material” that reflects themes taught in Palestinian Authority textbooks and on official preparatory websites.

Aftenposten — November 15, 2019
Who decides what content a nation disseminates to school students through educational materials? The question quickly becomes important when considering Palestinian educational material. Norway and many other countries support the authorities there with large sums each year. Part of this support enables the production of educational material in the school. Yet recent reports from organizations such as IMPACT-se have brought attention to content within the textbooks, which actually counteract the peace process…

Sputnik — November 14,2019
Norwegian MPs from across the political spectrum have called to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority after it was reported that new Palestinian schoolbooks glorify holy war and martyrdom as “the most important thing in life”. A new Palestinian syllabus almost completely omits Israel’s very existence and all references to the peace process of the previous years, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) warned in a report citing dozens of examples.

Aftenposten — November 13, 2019
Information on the content of the new Palestinian curriculum is published in a report by the Israeli organization IMPACT-se, which has previously been criticized by PA authorities for being selective with the examples they quote from the Palestinian school books, such as: “Palestinian schoolchildren learn that martyr death is ‘the most important thing in life.'” Basri Saleh, Deputy Minister of Education in the Palestinian Territories is upset by the discussion about the content of the school books he is responsible for creating. While IMPACT-se’s latest report contains 100 examples of what the organization believes are problematic content in the PA school books, Saleh will not go into further detail about what specific examples he thinks have been removed from the syllabus or which have been taken out of context…

Dagsnytt 18-TV — November 12, 2019
A well-known TV-radio program began its coverage with the recent controversy in Norway over funding of Palestinian curriculum textbooks. It reported that MP Geir Toskedal was shocked, saying the content of the new school books was “scary.” “This is indoctrination and propaganda … The new schoolbooks are much more radical” [than previous textbooks according to a recent IMPACT-se report]. “We have tried with dialogue for 25 years. We have to evaluate if we should give aid money for this.”

Aftenposten — November 12, 2019
This year, Norway increased its annual support to Palestinian education authorities from NOK 40 million to NOK 55 million. At the same time, Palestinian education authorities have developed new textbooks which removed references to peace processes over the past 25 years; several of the texts glorify violence, holy war and martyrdom. Both the EU and the UN have criticized the new school books. The EU is examining the contents of the curriculum for Palestinian students as a result of efforts like the NGO IMPACT-se, which documented the changes in its latest report. As a result, the Norwegian Parliament will look more closely at Support for Palestinian school books.

Aftenposten — November 12, 2019
An article on the new PA curriculum by Norway’s leading newspaper follows a report and visit to Oslo by IMPACT-se last week to meet legislators of every major political party, as well as with senior leaders at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Said IMPACT-se CEO MS: “While Norwegian taxpayers fund the new and radical Palestinian curriculum, their diplomats were on the ground, working with the PA during its creation.  It should have been screamingly obvious to the Norwegian diplomats in Ramallah two years ago that they had a problem…” Socialist Party member and leader of “Friends of Palestine in Parliament” MP Petter Eide, while objecting to aid being held back, said, the new curriculum is “problematic” and that it will “make it more difficult for the Palestinians to secure international aid in the future.”

IMPACT-se — November 2019
This report studies the twenty-six tests comprising the Palestinian 2019 Tajihi Matriculation Exam which tests grade 12 material from the Palestinian curriculum. The exam was analyzed according to IMPACT-se’s UNESCO-derived standards to research peace and tolerance in school education and compared it with the relevant textbooks and content from the PA curriculum that students needed to memorize for the exam. IMPACT-se’s finding is that many of the final exams are so designed that students must study problematic content that does not meet international standards for peace and tolerance. Report   Exec Sum

JNS — October 8, 2019
References to Israel, the Jewish people and peace have been removed from 2019-20 Palestinian Authority textbooks, according to a recent study by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se). The NGO, which tracks educational material in the Middle East, states that the changes in P.A. textbooks for grades one through 12 represent radicalization and are “a clear deterioration in content,” and that the textbooks now fail to meet UNESCO standards. IMPACT-se found that the only signed peace agreement between Israel and the PA still mentioned in the textbooks (and now covered less favorably and in less detail than previous versions) is the 1993 Oslo Accords. Whereas older textbooks mentioned Jerusalem as the Jewish capital in the ancient period, any mention of Jewish presence and ancient Jewish history in the land—or to the Jewish people’s connection to Jerusalem—has been removed, with textbooks now representing Jewish holy places as Muslim sites usurped by “Zionists.”

YNET — October 7, 2019
The Palestinian Authority has removed all trace of agreements signed with Israel from its textbooks, according to a report by IMPACT-se, which tracks educational material in the Middle East. The only signed agreement still mentioned in school books for West Bank and Gaza students from first grade through high school is the 1993 Oslo Accords, but even those are mentioned less favorably and in less detail than in earlier versions of the textbooks. Some of the examples of agreements signed by the PA with Israel were removed, with the new curriculum representing a quantum leap backward toward radicalizing the textbooks, IMPACT-se claims…

i24 News — October 7, 2019
The Palestinian Authority has removed almost every single agreement it signed with Israel from the history textbooks for students in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and refugee camps, Ynet reported on Monday, citing a report by IMPACT-se, an education-focused NGO. While the previous editions of history books provide presented the signing of the Oslo Accords in a positive light, as “a historic event inaugurating a new epoch of peaceful coexistence”, the new textbooks take a more grim approach: “The Zionist Occupation [which is the way Israel is predominantly referred to in the new books] was forced to recognize the PLO after the First Intifada in 1987, which enabled the return of PLO officers and institutions to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1994.” These edits prompted an angry reaction from Blue and White’s leader Benny Gantz, who took to Twitter to point out that such changes would first and foremost hurt the Palestinian Youth and jeopardize the prospect of peace….

Cleveland Jewish News — October 7,2019
Citing research by IMPACT-se, the Israeli NGO which monitors Palestinian educational material, Ynet reported that the Palestinian Authority has removed information about agreements signed with Israel from its textbooks. The only signed agreement still mentioned in books studied by students in the West Bank and Gaza from first grade through high school is the 1993 Oslo Accords, which now is mentioned less favorably and with less detail than in earlier versions of the textbooks. The 2019 textbooks do not include the PLO statement calling for “coexistence,” “peace” and nonviolence with Israel, which appeared in the old version of the curriculum, according to the report….

JTA — October 7, 2019
The Palestinian Authority has removed information about agreements signed with Israel from its textbooks, according to an organization that monitors Palestinian educational material. The only signed agreement still mentioned in books studied by students in the West Bank and Gaza from first grade through high school is the 1993 Oslo Accords, which now is mentioned less favorably and with less detail than in earlier versions of the textbooks, Ynet reported, citing research by the Israeli NGO IMPACT-se, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education. The 2019 textbooks do not include the PLO statement calling for “coexistence,” “peace” and nonviolence with Israel, which appeared in the old version of the curriculum, according to the report. The new curriculum also removes the substantial amount of information provided to Palestinian students about the ancient Jewish history of “Palestine” and the Jewish presence and connection to Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Post — October 7, 2019
The Palestinian Authority has removed any mention of past agreements with Israel from their school textbooks, with the exception of the Oslo Accords, which are mentioned in far less detail than in previous editions of the schoolbooks, according to a new report by Yedioth Aharonot. The old textbooks contained the full contents of the letter written in 1993 by then-PA Chairman Yasser Arafat to then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, which detailed the values of peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The report is based on research conducted by research institute IMPACT-se which also found that Palestinian schoolchildren are exposed to a dramatic amount of incitement and intolerance against Jews and Israel. The new textbooks, according to IMPACT-se, justify and even encourage violent acts, hatred and even “martyrdom.”

Times of Israel — October 7, 2019
The Palestinian Authority has removed information about agreements signed with Israel from its textbooks, according to an organization that monitors Palestinian educational material. The only signed agreement still mentioned in books studied by students in the West Bank and Gaza from first grade through high school is the 1993 Oslo Accords, which now is mentioned less favorably and with less detail than in earlier versions of the textbooks, Ynet reports, citing research by the Israeli NGO IMPACT-se, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education. The 2019 textbooks do not include the PLO statement calling for “coexistence,” “peace” and nonviolence with Israel, which appeared in the old version of the curriculum, according to the report. The new curriculum also removes the substantial amount of information provided to Palestinian students about the ancient Jewish history of “Palestine” and the Jewish presence and connection to Jerusalem. “If peace agreements with Israel have indeed been deleted from Palestinian textbooks, this action harms young Palestinians first and foremost,” said Benny Gantz, chairman of the Blue and White party. “Deleting the past is essentially an attack on the hope for a better future.”

Belfast Telegraph (Ruth Dudley Edwards Column) — September 23, 2019
In 2010 a new initiative called the Joint Financial Arrangement between the Palestinian Authority and five European member states — Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland and Norway — was launched to support the education sector in Palestine. The specific job given to Ireland was to focus on curriculum development and basic education as the lead nation on textbook development. According to a study by IMPACT-se, a non-profit organization that monitors the content of school textbooks worldwide for how they measure up to Unesco and UN standards for peace and tolerance, the extraordinary result is that bad though the old curriculum of the Palestinian Authority was, that introduced between 2016 and 2018 is much worse.

The Jerusalem Post (Marcus Sheff) — September 16, 2019
In Israel, peacemaking as the way to resolve conflict has been a central value in textbooks for many years. Gershon Baskin is to be commended for placing such emphasis on the importance of curricula in these pages during recent weeks. However, he is mistaken that Israeli textbooks do not teach about the Other…or the Palestinian national perspective. IMPACT-se’s analysis of the latest PA curriculum reveals a stark contrast. It is clear that the Palestinian Authority has made a strategic choice to radicalize 1.3 million children every school day. The PA curriculum has been pilloried by the international community, including the UN. The European Parliament, UK and the United States have launched investigations or legislative measures to prevent their funding for PA education, from turning impressionable young minds toward violence, conflict and hatred.

Jewish News (via TOI) — September 15, 2019
A major government review into incitement and anti-Semitism in Palestinian textbooks that was due to have been completed this month has only just begun. Following research on the PA curriculum by IMPACT-se, the Department for International Development (DfID) announced the review with the European Union six months ago, saying it would be complete by September 2019. The reason given for the six-month delay was due to a change in the Palestinian Education Minister and to contractual negotiations between the EU and the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research, tasked with carrying out the work.

Jewish Journal — September 12. 2019
A poll from the Palestine Center for Public Opinion found that a majority of Palestinians between the ages of 18 and 30 living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip reject “permanent peace” with Israel. The poll results come following a September report from the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) which concluded that the 2019-20 Palestinian curriculum in the West Bank and Gaza is “more radical” than in prior years.

Jewish Press — September 10, 2019
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) has published a study about Jordan’s new curriculum, outlining the major changes made compared with the previous school books. Jordan has implemented a significant reform in its educational curriculum, changing many of its aspects, including a positive approach towards peace, ethnic minorities, opposition to Islamic extremism and openness to non-Muslims. Conversely, the curriculum contains minimal recognition of Israel and the peace treaty is treated as a cause for concern, the new study shows.

Jewish Journal — September 6, 2019
“The [completion of] the first full restructuring of the Palestinian curriculum” occurred for the 2019–20 school term and the textbook monitoring nonprofit, IMPACT-se, found it to be “more radical than those previously published” since there is a “systematic insertion of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects in a more extensive and sophisticated manner, embracing a full spectrum of extreme nationalist ideas and Islamist ideologies that extend even into the teaching of mathematics and science.” Selected Examples

The Jerusalem Post — September 5, 2019
Palestinian schoolchildren are exposed to a dramatic amount of incitement and intolerance against Jews and Israel, IMPACT-se, a research institute based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, found. The organization studied the current Palestinian curriculum (2019–20) taught in Palestinian Authority and UNRWA schools in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. The study found that all textbooks in social studies, history, Arabic and national education for grades two to 12 contained problematic content, defined by IMPACT-se as “violence or incitement to violence; hatred of the Other; and radical, inappropriate or disturbing content.” “That is a strategic choice made by the Palestinian Ministry of Education to radicalize whole generations of young Palestinians: to encourage them to commit violence, endanger themselves, and to reject peace with Israel,” said Marcus Sheff, IMPACT-se’s CEO. Selected Examples/Quantitative Analysis

The Algemeiner — September 4, 2019
A study has found that new Palestinian educational materials to be used during the 2019–20 school year have, despite considerable international criticism, become even more ridden with anti-Israel and sometimes antisemitic propaganda. According to the group IMPACT-se, which evaluated the materials according to the standards of the UN cultural body UNESCO, the materials contain “a systematic insertion of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects.” The materials “indoctrinate for death and martyrdom, utilizing a variety of tools to convince children to risk their lives as martyrs,” the group noted.

FOX News — September 3, 2019
The Palestinian Authority’s current school curriculum “is more radical than the curriculum that came before” and “is suffused with ideas of martyrdom [and] jihad,” according to an international monitoring organization, IMPACT-se, a research and policy institute that analyzes how textbooks measure up to (UNESCO) standards for acceptance, peace and tolerance. “Looking at textbooks across the Middle East we have seen improvements,” IMPACT-se’s CEO Marcus Sheff told Fox News. “Unfortunately the opposite is true of the Palestinian curriculum,” Sheff said. “A new, reformed curriculum was put in place between 2016 and 2019 and it is more radical than the curriculum that came before.”   Selected Examples

IMPACT-se — September 2019
This updated report includes selected examples from research by IMPACT-se on the new Palestinian school curriculum for the 2019–20 academic year. The curriculum has been released over the past four school years, beginning with grades 1–4 (2016–17) and the twelfth grade books finally available for the 2018–19 term. Additionally, the report includes examples from new chapters added to the 2019–20 academic year textbooks. Selected Examples

IMPACT-se — September 2019
A report on selected positive content about peace, relations with Israel, and Jewish historical presence previously in the Palestinian school curriculum between 2000 and 2016, and subsequently removed from the restructured 2016–19 curriculum. Although some of the positive examples were removed even before 2016, the “new” PA curriculum represents a quantum leap backward toward radicalizing the textbooks–and unfortunately–Palestinian school children.   Report

IMPACT-se — September 2019
A quantitative analysis of textbooks from the current Palestinian Ministry of Education curriculum, applying UNESCO-derived standards of peace and tolerance. All 2019-20 textbooks for the first semester were analyzed. Additionally, in this report, we define Problematic Content as: violent connotations, incitement to violence, hatred of the Other, and radical, inappropriate or disturbing content. The accompanying graph from the report displays by grade, the number of violent references included in each textbook. Report

Canada Free Press — August 25, 2019
Historical experience plays a major role in shaping the identity of all societies, but it is presented (in democratic societies) or misrepresented (in non-democratic societies) by the education system, which thus enhances or corrupts the foundations of the next generation. An IMPACT-se study of the newly-restructured, more radical and more Islamist Palestinian school curriculum provides an elaborate documentation on the nature of the Palestinian education system.   Selected Examples

The Jerusalem Post — August 15, 2019
During the recent UN Panel on racism, The Palestinian Authority revived the charge that “Zionism is racism” and warned that Israel is “weaponizing” antisemitism to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. Prior to the official start of the hearing and in written submissions to the committee, a number of NGOs, UN Watch, NGO Monitor and IMPACT-se, provided the committee with examples of Palestinian hate speech and antisemitism against Jews and Israel. IMPACT-se’s research showed how violence against Israel and glorification of those killed, including suicide bombers, was present even in basic math problems in school textbooks.

JTA — August 15, 2019
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination questioned Palestinian representatives on incitement and racism over two days. Palestinian representatives accused the Israelis of weaponizing anti-Semitism and asserted that it was Zionism rather than Palestinian rhetoric that constituted racism. Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se, an Israeli organization that monitors Palestinian textbooks, said the Palestinian response “ignores all of the evidence that was presented at the U.N. committee. … “The evidence on anti-Semitism, hate and incitement to violence is there in the books, literally in black and white,” he said.

Jewish Press — August 14, 2019
The United Nations’ body on racism on Wednesday faced the Palestinian Authority (PA) representative with tough questions about its promotion of anti-Jewish hate and incitement to terrorism, echoing an earlier briefing to committee members by Israeli watchdogs IMPACT-se and NGO Monitor. IMPACT-se’s research shows that the word “peace” does not appear in any text used in PA schools, and that the PA had adopted “a curriculum of war and struggle aimed at preparing young Palestinians to fight continuously for the elimination of Israel,” and that “there is clear evidence of a strategy of radicalization of young Palestinians” devised and implemented by the PA ministry.

Times of Israel — August 14, 2019
Pro-Israel activists are celebrating an important UN body this week for probing the PA’s record on fighting racism and for committee members who challenged Ramallah over its alleged institutional anti-Semitism. “Since 1974 when Yasser Arafat and the PLO were welcomed into the United Nations, this is the first time that the world body’s spotlight was officially placed on Palestinian racism, discrimination and anti-Semitism, said Hillel Nuer, executive director of UN Watch.” Marcus Sheff, the head of IMPACT-se, the watchdog group which researched the Palestinian textbooks, said the “contradiction between the Palestinian submission, which claims to adhere to anti-racism, and the blatant antisemitism, hate and extremism in the PA curriculum, was not lost on the committee. … It is clearly pointless to deny the textbook hate. There it was, in black and white.”

FOXNews — August 14, 2019
A UN body challenged the Palestinian Authority’s record on fighting racism and anti-Semitism on Tuesday, in what some organizations called “a rare move.” The committee reportedly challenged the PA after meeting with watchdog organizations NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based research institute and IMPACT-se, a research and policy institute that analyzes textbooks and how they measure up to UNESCO’s standards for acceptance, peace and tolerance. Impact-se’s reports have documented the PA’s alleged anti-Semitism.

The Algemeiner — August 15, 2019
The UN’s Committee to End Racial Discrimination (CERD) grilled the PA’s delegation in Geneva earlier this week over its official incitement, including in schools. Marcus Sheff—CEO of IMPACT-SE, a non-profit organization that monitors the content of school textbooks-—-told The Algemeiner that an informal meeting with the UN committee members on Tuesday was decisive. During that meeting, Sheff showed them textbooks with examples of the antisemitism that is rife in the Palestinian educational system. Selected Examples

Flame — July 23, 2019
There was great hope and anticipation several years ago when the Palestinian Authority announced that it was completely replacing its K-12 school textbooks. Recently, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) published its reports on the textbooks—-replete with examples—-that demonstrate they are even worse than the old ones in teaching Jew-hatred, a fictionalized narrative of history, and a profound glorification of martyrdom, terrorism and hate.

Times of Israel (Blog) — July 21, 2019
In a report released by the NGO IMPACT-se (Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education) in April 2019, the organization found new Palestinian textbooks to be more radical than in the past, containing incitement and rejection of peace with Israel. “Most troubling, there is a systematic insertion of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects in a more extensive and sophisticated manner, embracing a full spectrum of extreme nationalist ideas and Islamist ideologies that extend even into the teaching of science and mathematics.”In a statement released on April 24, 2019 in response to the IMPACT-se report, the EU announced its intentions to conduct an examination of the new Palestinian school textbooks…

the algemeiner — July 9, 2019
IMPACT-se has conducted a new study on Jordanian textbooks that have made major progress in discouraging radical Islam and promoting a more moderate form of the religion. But while the textbooks emphasized an abstract commitment to peace, “Israel is not envisaged to be part of it in any tangible manner.” The new curriculum is based on King Abdullah II’s 2004 Amman Message, which sought to promote the “Islamic message of tolerance” against those who “claim to be associated with Islam and hide behind Islam to commit irresponsible deeds.”

An IMPACT-se Report — August 2019

Jordan’s new curriculum derives from the principles formulated in the Amman Message of 2004. In this report IMPACT-se evaluates a range of topics: moderating the education of Islam for students (with emphasis on diversity and openness); layers of national identity; the idea of good citizenship, which includes gender, economic and environmental responsibility; Jordan’s approach toward the West Bank and the Palestinians; unresolved internal conflict toward its peace with Israel and compassion toward the disadvantaged.  Report    Executive Summary

The Jerusalem Post (Marcus Sheff) — July 2, 2019
Improving higher education in the Palestinian Authority is important. But it is the school system that passes on the values that shape subsequent generations.  Comprehensive research by IMPACT-se has shown that the textbooks and materials being taught to Palestinian students are at complete odds with the values of the Western governments footing the bill for their production.

Al-Akhbar — June 11, 2019
Top Arabic network, Al-Akhbar, has claimed that IMPACT-se is changing curricula across the Middle East, according to a June 11th print and internet think piece (English translation) which covers IMPACT-se’s reports, legislative work in the European Parliament and joint project with Prof. Mohammed Dajani Daoudi’s Wasatia Institute.

EuroNews — May 22, 2019
The European Union will fund a study on Palestinian school textbooks “with a view to identifying possible incitement to hatred and violence and any possible lack of compliance with UNESCO standards of peace and tolerance in education,” EU Commission Vice-President Federica Mogherini told European lawmakers. The announcement follows a damning report by IMPACT-se, a Jerusalem-based watchdog, which reviewed selected examples from the new Palestinian school curriculum for the 2018–19 academic year and concluded the material was “more radical than those previously published.”

World Israel News (IMPACT-se Marcus Sheff i24 Interview — May 17, 2019
The European Union is investigating Palestinian textbooks used to teach 1.3 million children after the expert behind a comprehensive survey, CEO Marcus Sheff, of the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, concluded there was “no sign of peace” in the curriculum.

Asharq Al-Awsat — May 17, 2019
Following the IMPACT-se publication last month of a 70-page document with hundreds of examples of incitement for hate in the new Palestinian textbooks, The EU has decided to investigate the new Palestinian textbooks to “identify possible incitement to hate and violence and non-compliance with UNESCO standards regarding peace and tolerance in education.”

The Jerusalem Post — May 17, 2019
The EU is planning an “academic study on Palestinian school textbooks” to see whether they are in compliance with “UNESCO standards of peace and tolerance in education,” One organization that has been heavily involved in the issue is IMPACT-se, a research institute based at Hebrew University . Its head, Marcus Sheff said the EU has a responsibility to its taxpayers to ensure that the money is spent to promote the EU’s vision, which is one of peace, tolerance, a negotiated settlement and a two-state solution. IMPACT-se New PA Curriculum Report

MA’AN NEWS AGENCY — May 17, 2019
Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, announced on Wednesday that the EU will examine new Palestinian textbooks for content that “incites hate and violence,” out of concern that EU aid funds are being used to promote hatred. Hebrew-language news outlets reported that the announcement followed after an investigation and campaign by IMPACT-se.

TV7 Israel News — May 16, 2019
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini has confirmed that the EU will investigate allegations of incitement and hate in the Palestinian curriculum. IMPACT-se’s CEO Marcus Sheff welcomed the development. “EU taxpayer-money and goodwill have been abused for years while whole generations of young Palestinians are systematically radicalized.” He expressed hope that “this study will help put an end to the abuse and finally allow young Palestinians to receive meaningful peace education.” Selected Examples of New PA Curriculum

CBN –May 16, 2019
The European Union said it will begin examining new Palestinian school textbooks after a study by IMPACT-se revealed they are inciting children to violence and discouraging peace with Israel. EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said the commission has already set aside funds for the probe.

JNS — May 16, 2019
The European Union will investigate whether EU funds are going towards Palestinian textbooks teaching incitement to hatred and violence its High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, announced following an investigation by IMPACT-se which found that the new Palestinian textbooks are even more radical than previous editions, with hundreds of examples of extremism encouraging violent jihad demonization, and incitement against Israel and Jews.

i24 (French) Interview with IMPACT-se COO Arik Aggasi — May 16, 2019
IMPACT-se Report: Selected Examples from the New Palestinian Curriculum

i24 Interview with IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff — May 16, 2019
IMPACT-se Report:  “The New Palestinian Curriculum”

The Jewish Express (Jewish Press) — May 15, 2019
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini confirmed on Wednesday the body will inspect the latest Palestinian Authority school textbooks to determine whether they contain content that promotes incitement to hate and violence. The EU is concerned its foreign aid funds are being used to promote hate in the wake of findings that emerged from an investigation by IMPACT-se.

YNET — May 15, 2019
Foreign Affairs representative Mogherini confirms action to be taken following an investigation and campaign by IMPACT-se that new Palestinian textbooks are even more radical than previous editions, with hundreds of examples of extremism encouraging jihad, violence, demonization and incitement against Israel and Jews.

HAMODIA — May 15, 2019
Following a study conducted by the NGO IMPACT-se, the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said on Wednesday that they would conducting a review of new Palestinian school textbooks, which have been found to contain even more hatred and incitement than previous ones, despite many years of criticism and sanctions.

Times of Israel — May 15, 2019
The European Union will conduct an examination of new Palestinian school textbooks following a study that found them to be more radical than in the past and containing incitement and rejection of peace with Israel. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, confirmed the planned investigation in a statement on the EU website according to IMPACT-se, which last month published a 70-page document with select examples of incitement in new Palestinian textbooks.

the algemeiner — May 15, 2019
The European Union will review whether Palestinian Authority textbooks promote hatred and violence, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said late last month. The PA has faced continued criticism over its educational curriculum, with IMPACT-se, a Jerusalem-based watchdog, campaigning on the issue among European lawmakers. The group’s 2018 report found that grades 1-12 PA textbooks routinely describe Israel as the “Zionist Occupation,” refer to UN-recognized Israeli territory as Palestinian, and in some cases praise acts of Palestinian violence against civilians.

the algemeiner –April 24, 2019
A bipartisan bill, “The Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act,” committing the State Department to annually review the Palestinian curriculum for content encouraging violence, antisemitism and intolerance was introduced last week. The measure was supported by IMPACT-se, a Jerusalem-based watchdog that backs reforms for the Palestinian curriculum. The bill would require the State Department to submit annual reports reviewing the educational material used by the PA and the UNRWA, which runs 715 schools for some 532,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.   IMPACT-se report

JEWISH JOURNAL — April 23, 2019
Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) and Lee Zeldin (R-Calif.) introduced a bill on April 18 requiring the State Department to send review the content of Palestinian textbook and submit reports to Congress every year for ten years. The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) report in September found that PA textbooks state that “Jews are sinful and liars” and that “the Jews desecrate the tombs of some of the companions and righteous; they bulldoze them and remove them from Muslim graveyards, especially in Jerusalem and generally throughout Palestine.” The PA textbooks also labels Israeli land as “lands seized by the Jews after the war.”

The Jerusalem Post — April 22, 2019
A bipartisan bill has been proposed in Congress that would require the State Department to submit annual reports reviewing the educational material used by PA and UNRWA schools in Palestinian territories. The proposed legislation is the result of a report by IMPACT-se … which “spent a lot of time over the last three years focusing on the new PA curriculum,” CEO Marcus Sheff told The Jerusalem Post. “We were hoping this was going to be an opportunity to improve the standards of peace and tolerance in the textbooks. Unfortunately the opposite was true.”

The Jerusalem Post — April 19, 2019
In a bipartisan effort in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) introduced the Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act on Friday, according to IMPACT-se. The bill was co-sponsored by Representatives Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), David Trone (D-MD), Brian Mast (R-FL), and Randy Weber (R-TX).  Should it pass into law, the bill would stress both UNRWA and the PA failed to eliminate “content encouraging violence, antisemitism, hate and intolerance toward other nations” in their educational programs and would require an annual U.S. State Department report on the status of UNRWA-Palestinian education.

By Eldad J. Pardo, IMPACT-se — April 2019
The Kurdish textbooks appear at first glance to be simple and straightforward, no more than very little elective training in a minority population’s mother tongue. They are not. Both implicitly and explicitly the books include much material that strengthens conscious Kurdish identity . . . a conversation about this curriculum is worthwhile because the question of Kurdish education in Turkey remains unanswered. Report   Executive Summary

IMPACT-se
This report includes selected examples from the new Palestinian school curriculum (for the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and UNRWA) for the 2018–19 academic year, as researched by IMPACT-se. The main findings of our reports analyzing the new Palestinian curriculum showed them to be more radical than those previously published, with a clear deterioration in content that meets UNESCO standards. It is our fervent hope that IMPACt’s research will lead to a Palestinian curriculum that eshews violence and rejection in favor of peace and acceptance. Selected Examples

Times of Israel — April 1, 2019
A wide ranging report covering a spectrum of radical extremism throughout the world, the article also depicts the activities of radicals parading as progressives to fight Israel through “war by other means.” The story includes input from IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff and Wasatia Academic Institute Director Mohammed Dajani Daoudi, who point to the detrimental influence of the current PA curriculum on young Palestinian children, including girls being readied for martyrdom. IMPACT-se Report

TOI Blog (Dame Louise Ellman) — March 20, 2019
“…. As IMPACT-se has suggested, the Palestinian curriculum is ‘more radical than ever, purposefully and strategically encouraging Palestinian children to sacrifice themselves to martyrdom ….’ The [UK] government, currently giving millions of pounds each year to PA schools, first ignored warnings, then promised reviews which never materialised, and then attempted to kick the issue into the long grass by commissioning an international study of the PA’s schoolbooks, despite IMPACT-se already having undertaken an extensive and thoroughly researched investigation….”

the algemeiner — March 14, 2019
IMPACT-se said it will be working with Professor Mohammed Dajani Daoudi of the WASATIA Academic Institute (WAI) to “promote Wasatia education for the Palestinian educational system.” A jointly published booklet identified five “problematic categories” within current Palestinian textbooks: [encouragement] to violence; subliminal violent messaging; demonization of the Other; indoctrination to militancy; and degradation of women.
“It is hoped that the Palestinian Authority will revise its curriculum along the lines of the international standards for peace education presented here,” Daoudi wrote.

Jewish Chronicle — March 13, 2019
The UK government is to play a central role in a review of Palestinian school textbooks amid concern British aid money is funding a curriculum that allegedly incites violence against Israelis. This action follows conclusions in a 2017 report by IMPACT-se, that PA textbooks encouraged “young Palestinians to acts of violence in a more extensive and sophisticated manner” and that “the curriculum’s focus appears to have expanded from demonization of Israel to providing a rationale for war.”

Wasatia Academic Institute & IMPACT-se — 2019

This booklet suggests Wasatia Education for the Palestinian educational system using the methodologies of both IMPACT-se and the WASATIA Academic Institute. It explores the present Palestinian school textbooks and identifies areas where the curriculum incites, demonizes and delegitimizes the Other while proposing concepts and values to allow for a future of coexistence, tolerance and prosperity. For peace to take place between Palestinians and Israelis, it is essential that the new generation is taught the values of moderation, reconciliation, mediation, conflict resolution, peace, empathy, tolerance, common ethical values, and democracy, and to instill in them the spirit of applying these values in their daily lives. Digital Format  Booklet Format

Jerusalem Online — Feb. 26, 2019
A report by The Israel-based nonprofit, IMPACT-se, has found that Palestinian schoolbooks curriculum in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem have become more radical than previous years, invoking anti-Semitic motifs, referring to the Jewish State as “Zionist occupants” and making no distinction between Zionists and Jews in general.

Mosaic — Feb 26, 2019
Time and again, Palestinian Authority officials, as well as administrators for UNRWA, have promised their Western backers that they will do away with textbooks that encourage violence and anti-Semitism. Yet a study released last fall by IMPACT-se, an organization that monitors the Palestinian curriculum, shows that there has been no progress to speak of.

the algemeiner — Jan 10, 2019
A bill to prohibit British aid money from funding Palestinian schools that promote violent and discriminatory themes was introduced in parliament by MP Dame Louise Ellman, vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel. “This curriculum drips with vile antisemitic tropes—that Jews sexually harass Muslim women and that they attempted to kill the Prophet Mohammed,” Ellman said. “There is no suggestion that peace with Israel is desirable or possible.” She cited research on new grade 1–12 textbooks used by the PA by the Jerusalem-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se). The next stage for the bill, a second reading, will take place on March 8.

Cleveland Jewish News (via Israel Hayom) — Jan. 10,2019
Britain’s parliament on Tuesday approved a first hearing of legislation, that if passed, would deduct tens of millions of pounds earmarked for the PA school system. Drafted by Labour Friends of Israel lawmakers Joan Ryan and Dame Louise Ellman, the bill was predicated on reports published by IMPACT-se at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which has examined 173 official Palestinian textbooks in recent years. According to its findings, the textbooks do not educate the next generation of Palestinians toward peace, but hatred and extremism.

Jewish Press — Jan 10, 2019
UK MP Dame Louise Ellman on Wednesday presented the International Development Assistance (Values Promoted in Palestinian National Authority Schools) Bill in parliament designed to stop the PA education system from using British taxpayers’ money to fund a school curriculum which incites the murder of Israelis. Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se, a watchdog which combats radicalization and exposes anti-Israel content in school textbooks, said that the bill “is in the correct direction,” and that legislation is the only way to stop foreign funding of PA incitement. The legislation was initiated based on research on the PA curriculum by IMPACT-se.

JNS (via Israel Hayom) — Jan 10, 2019
Britain’s Parliament on Tuesday approved in a first hearing a bill drafted by Labour Friends of Israel lawmakers Joan Ryan and Dame Louise Ellman, that could significantly cut aid funds to the Palestinian Authority. CEO of IMPACT-se Marcus Sheff said: “There’s nothing in our reports that the British government doesn’t already know. The bill was born because the British government was briefed on the subject [from research by IMPACT-se]  but its answers were unsatisfactory.”

The Tower — Jan. 9, 2019
A Labour MP has described the use of British taxpayers’ money to fund a Palestinian school curriculum which incites violence against Israelis and propagates anti-Semitic material as a: “scandal.” Speaking in parliament, Dame Louise Ellman MP cited IMPACT-se’s report that PA textbooks had become even “more radical,” despite assurances from the PA Ministry of Education that they hadn’t. Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se, observed, “There is clear evidence of a strategy of radicalization of young Palestinians, devised and implemented by the ministry, which includes a commitment to an Arab Palestine encompassing the entirety of Israel.”

the algemeiner — Jan 8, 2019
Switzerland will review reports that the Palestinian curriculum promotes violence, antisemitism, and other themes that undermine a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, according to a recent report in the Swiss Sunday paper, SonntagsZeitung. “Switzerland will examine reports such as those by IMPACT-se and discuss them with other donor nations,” said a spokesperson for the Swiss Government.

The Jewish Chronicle — Jan. 8, 2019
Based on a report by IMPACT-se, Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman has condemned the use of British taxpayers’ money to fund a Palestinian school curriculum which incites the murder of Israelis and circulates antisemitic material to children. The report concluded that PA textbooks encouraged “young Palestinians to acts of violence in a more extensive and sophisticated manner” and that “the curriculum’s focus appears to have expanded from demonization of Israel to providing a rationale for war.”

SonntagsZeitung — Jan. 6, 2019
“School materials that run contrary to the spirit of a two-state solution, which glorify violence, which fuel racism and anti-Semitism or trivialize violations of international law and human rights are not in compliance with the Swiss position on the Middle East,” said a spokeswoman of the [Swiss] Foreign Office (EDA). “Switzerland will examine reports such as those by IMPACT-se and discuss them with other donor nations.”  Eng. Translation

SWI — Jan. 6, 2019
Switzerland is looking into reports that foreign aid payments are being used to glamorize Palestinian terrorists in Middle East schools based on controversial educational material found by the Israeli NGO IMPACT-se, that says Palestinian students are also being taught anti-Semitic messages.

The Jewish Chronicle — Jan. 8, 2019
Based on a report by IMPACT-se, Dame Louise Ellman MP and vice-chair of the Labour Friends of Israel, told the House of Commons that young Palestinian minds were currently “being poisoned” and “the opportunity for Britain to help promote the values of peace, reconciliation and coexistence squandered.”

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