Education, identity, state building and the peace process: Educating Palestinian children in the post‐Oslo era

Abstract

An integral part of the peace process between Israel and the Palestine Authority (PA) is the mutual obligation to eliminate mechanisms of incitement and hatred from the public sphere. State owned media and school texts must be as politically neutral as possible. Israel has virtually met its obligation with respect to textbooks, but the PA has scarcely made an effort. The article examines Palestinian textbooks noting its numerous deep anti‐Jewish, anti‐Israel and anti‐Western sentiments, which are combined with grossly inaccurate descriptions of historical ‘facts’. Specifically, Israel is de‐legitimized, and Jihad exhortations are common. Unaltered, these texts will have a pernicious impact on Israeli‐Palestinian relationships