In last week's Gadfly, we reported on efforts by the government of Pakistan to rein in some state-funded Islamic schools that breed extremism and violence and provide incentives for teaching modern subjects like science, math, computers, and English. Hopefully these efforts to promote liberal education in Pakistan will be more sincere than they have been in the schools run by the Palestinian Authority. A recent article in the Financial Times by Amity Shlaes describes the highlights (or more accurately, lowlights) of a report analyzing the Palestinian textbooks for 6- and 11-year-olds that have been developed since the Oslo Accord, which required both Israel and the PLO to promote mutual understanding and tolerance and refrain from issuing hostile propaganda. According to the report, by Goetz Nordburch of the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI), the new Palestinian textbooks (which were purchased with financial aid from 21 countries and four international organizations) are an improvement over their predecessors, and do not contain much "outright incitement," but they do teach discredited racial theories, incessantly slander the Jewish character, and foster a desire for martyrdom among children. Textbook maps also fail to acknowledge the existence of Israel as a state; its territory is instead labeled Palestine and Israeli cities like Tel Aviv are not depicted. For more, see "Schooled as Martyrs," by Amity Shlaes, Financial Times, December 5, 2001, and Narrating Palestinian Nationalism: An Inquiry into the new Palestinian Textbooks, by Goetz Nordbruch, The Middle East Research Institute, 2001.
