Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis has written to the Middle East Minister Rt. Hon. James Cleverly MP to express his concerns over the “long overdue” EU review into the Palestinian Authority (PA) curriculum.
In his letter, Mr Gullis referred to comments by Dr. Riem Spielhaus, the head of the textbook study at the Georg Eckert Institute, who recently confirmed in an interview with German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel that researchers “mistakenly reviewed Israeli Arabic-language textbooks, presenting them as Palestinian Authority books”.
The former school teacher added that “these Israeli textbooks were the only examples of peace, tolerance, and recognition of Israel cited in an online presentation of the classified EU interim report”.
He writes that Dr. Spielhaus’ remarks “directly contradict” assurances the UK Government has received from the EU that researchers have not looked at Israeli textbooks.
The MP for Stoke-on-Trent North further highlighted “translation errors” in the inception report which “include translating Shimon Peres, the former Israeli President, as ‘piers’, and using the word ‘horoscope’ to describe the word for the women who accompany Muslim believers to paradise”.
“Disturbingly”, he added, “the online presentation describes acts of terrorism as ‘resistance’. It notes that women are only empowered in Palestinian textbooks in a ‘war/resistance context’, referring to Dalal Mughrabi, a Palestinian terrorist who killed 38 Israelis including 13 children in the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre”.
“Since the review began, the PA has modified its curriculum and now uses new textbooks that have not been scrutinised by the EU”, Mr Gullis said. He asked the Middle East Minister if the UK Government will “ensure the new PA curriculum is properly scrutinised going forward”, adding: “As the report produced is regrettably not fit for purpose, will the UK Government disassociate itself with the EU review?”
The Conservative MP concluded: “Given that the EU has failed to communicate the review’s failings to the UK Government, and the Palestinian Authority has refused to remove material inciting violence, what steps is the UK taking to prevent further taxpayers’ money from inciting violence in Palestinian schools?”
Cross-party parliamentarians have raised concerns for many years over material inciting violence and hatred of Israel and Jews in the PA school curriculum. In March 2020, Mr Gullis led his first Westminster Hall debate on the subject of radicalisation within the Palestinian school curriculum, with 20 Conservative MPs in attendance.
