[iwar] Israel and the Jews in the schoolbooks of the Palestinian Authority

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Israel and the Jews in the schoolbooks of the Palestinian Authority

Shlomo Sharan

Executive Summary
A group of specialists in the Arabic language examined 140 textbooks currently in 
use and authorized by the Ministry of Education of the Palestinian Authority.  The 
textbooks cover all grades of public education (1 to 12), and are directed at the 
teaching of Civics, Grammar, Literature, History, Geography and Islamic Studies. 
 Examiners selected statements reflecting attitudes or evaluations of Israel, Jews, 
Judaism and Zionism, but selections were made only if these were recurrent statements 
that could be considered typical themes expressed in the book.  The main question 
asked here is:  Can the general orientation toward Israel and the Jews taught to 
the schoolchildren of the Palestinian Authority serve as a basis for a genuine rapprochement 
between Palestinian Arabs and the Jews?  Isn’t such a relationship expected on the 
basis of the Oslo and Wye River accords?  Do the schoolbooks of the PA reflect a 
different orientation than the hostile behavior and propaganda directed by the Arabs 
toward Israel and the Jews over most of the 20th century, or is education in the 
Palestinian Authority a continuation of the old policies? 
The message of the PA’s schoolbooks is expressed loud and clear, and incessantly, 
needing no sophisticated interpretation. Israel and the Jews are the enemy of the 
Palestinians, of the Arabs, of Islam, and, for that matter, of humanity.  Every Moslem 
is duty bound to engage in Jihad (Holy War) against the conqueror of Arab soil, and 
against the enemy of Islam.  Jihad means that each one must be ready to kill and 
be killed, to sacrifice life and limb, as well as one’s property, for the sake of 
Allah, knowing that anyone who dies in battle for Islam will be rewarded in Paradise. 
 This reward promises fame and endless orgiastic indulgence with droves of virgin 
maidens, drowned in limitless quantities of alcoholic beverages forbidden to Moslems 
on earth.  These lessons learned from teachers and books are impressed on the minds 
and feelings of the Palestinian children by the incessant repetition of public rituals 
surrounding the funerals of slain terrorists, as well as by the blood-drenched scenes 
of Jews driving their cars in the territory of the PA who are frequently accosted 
and stoned (with large boulders) by gangs of juveniles and young men. 
A profound change in policy and in the behavior of the PA and its educators, at 
all levels of education, are prerequisite for establishing any kind of conciliatory 
atmosphere that could serve as a basis for co-existence between Arabs and Jews living 
in proximity to one another without perpetual warfaren 

ISRAEL AND THE JEWS IN THE SCHOOLBOOKS OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
Introduction
What concepts and perceptions of Israel and the Jews has the Palestinian Authority 
taught Arab children in its territory since the adoption of the Oslo agreements? 
 Can these perceptions and ideas serve as the basis for cultivating peaceful co-existence 
between Arabs and Jews?  The response to these questions would appear to provide 
a window into the official political-cultural climate prevailing in the two entities 
since the adoption of the agreements between them were intended to serve as the basis 
for a peaceful settlement of their conflict.  A study of school textbooks cannot 
ascertain the nature of the attitudes and perceptions current among the general population, 
but it certainly can and does reflect the official policy that the government seeks 
to disseminate regarding its relationship with other social-political entities and 
their populations.  In both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a central educational 
authority must sanction textbooks, and in both instances a Ministry of Education 
actually authorizes the content of the textbooks employed in the public schools. 
 (There is no private education in the PA territories and relatively few private 
schools in Israel, the majority of which belong to ultra-Orthodox groups). 
The questions posed here are particularly significant in light of the long history 
of Arab anti-Jewish and anti-Israel acts as well as statements published in a wide 
variety of media over the past several decades.  Researchers whose scholarly credentials 
and reputations for objectivity are beyond doubt (Harkabi, 1972; Lewis, 1984, 1986; 
Porat, Stauber & Vago, 1997) have documented the fiercely antagonistic views about 
Jews, Israel, and Zionism, current in many Arab nations, in addition to overt acts 
of hostility.  A meaningful peace between Jews in the territory of Israel and Arabs 
in the territory now governed by the Palestinian Authority obviously demands a distinct 
change in official Palestinian political, social and cultural policy towards Israel 
and the Jews from the attitudes that have prevailed thus far.  That is one of the 
necessary conciliatory steps that must be taken, in addition to the cessation of 
overt acts of hostility, if the people of Israel are to consider the intentions of 
the Palestinians as directed toward peace.  The demonization of Jews and Israel, 
cultivated by the Arab nations for decades, should have been terminated immediately 
after the Oslo agreements (Stav, 1996).  In many parts of the world, once warring 
nations negotiated the cessation of hostilities, the diabolical images of the enemy 
disseminated by official and non-official groups in each nation were abandoned.  
Indeed, the need for this change in socio-political-cultural policy was explicitly 
reiterated in the Wye River agreement of October, 1998, where it was generally acknowledged 
that similar proclamations agreed upon in the Oslo accords still await implementation. 
 
Research on Political Socialization in the United States
An extensive research literature on the political socialization of children was 
published in the United States over the past three decades.  At first blush it would 
seem that such a large body of knowledge could provide insight and theoretical direction 
for understanding the phenomena relating to the political education of children in 
the Palestinian Authority.  Yet, several major differences between the social-political 
conditions reflected in the research literature in the United States and those prevailing 
in the Israel-Arab relationship must be emphasized.  First and foremost, the US research 
literature on the political socialization of children was generated in a democratic 
society.  True, not all of the investigators were uniformly satisfied with the effects 
of children’s political socialization in the family setting, in schools, or in peer 
groups, in terms of providing American society with a firm foundation for the intergenerational 
continuity of democracy (see, for example, Dennis, 1973; Greenstein, 1965; Hess & 
Torney, 1976).  Nevertheless, it is a monumental fact that the United States does 
not offer investigators examples of totalitarian political indoctrination of young 
people into a dominant and centrally determined political ideology.  Some researchers 
observed that the United States in general, apart from some radical fringe groups, 
was a remarkably a-ideological country and US citizens were singularly unconcerned 
with political ideology of any kind (Merelman, 1969).  The youth of the US express 
generally positive attitudes toward the government as benevolent and protective of 
human rights.  Political cynicism, or a critical perspective on political institutions 
and leadership, does not emerge in children’s thinking until they are of high school 
age or older. 
Another important feature is that US books on political socialization reporting 
theory and research reflect a geographical horizon limited to mainland United States. 
 What transpired elsewhere in the world is largely ignored, hardly even mentioned 
in passing.  This state of affairs is particularly remarkable because social science 
research about political socialization of children and youth emerged following the 
second World War, long after the examples of Italian (Fascist), German (Nazi), Soviet 
(Communist) and Japanese political education had become k.  Consequently, rather 
than providing a basis for comprehending or explaining most of the important manifestations 
of political socialization, the horizons of the US research literature remained parochial. 
 This fact alone limits the scope of generalization that legitimately can be made 
from this body of knowledge because it, ipso facto, limits the variety of political 
and educational phenomena encompassed by this research.  Interestingly, a relatively 
recent text on political socialization written in Israel (Ichilov, 1984) is divided 
into two separate sections, one that surveyed the research literature from the US 
and UK, and the other that addressed the problems of Israel’s political system and 
of political socialization in Israel.  Apparently the author was convinced that, 
even though Israel is also a democracy, its political history and system were so 
unlike that of the United States, that it is patently unjustifiable to employ the 
existing research to explain the process of political socialization in Israel.  This 
conclusion is applicable, a fortiori, to understanding and explaining the political 
socialization in non-democratic regimes such as monarchies and dictatorships.  
But, not only are Germany, Italy, the former Soviet Union, and Japan – all of whom 
participated in WWII – beyond the scope of most of the US research on political socialization. 
 Equally so are the Moslem nations of the Middle East (most of whom are monarchies 
or religio-military dictatorships) whose social institutions and processes have rarely 
been studied by social scientists, and whose culture and society are described primarily 
by Orientalists or political scientists specializing in the relevant nations.  Their 
work is based on available documents or on a few direct observations, but not on 
systematic data that could be taken to represent the major trends of the society. 
 These nations simply have not cultivated the social sciences, nor do they sanction 
the use of Western systematic research.  Hence, there is as yet no reliable body 
of knowledge on which to base an analysis of the social processes in these countries, 
including the manifold phenomena of education.  Thus, research on political socialization 
in the US has not been exposed to, or come to grips with, the two fundamental features 
of the political regime in the territory of the Palestinian Authority in particular, 
or found in most of the Arab nations of the Middle East in general, namely: a dictatorship 
or absolute monarchy coupled with the prevailing religious civilization of Islam. 
 
The Sources Used 
Before proceeding to identify and discuss the major themes found in the PA’s schoolbooks, 
some explanation is in order about the sources of the information on which this chapter 
relies.  
Several experts in the Arabic language examined 140 textbooks intended for all grades 
of public education (1 to 12) published by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of 
Education during the period of 1995 to 1998.  Prior to that, during the period of 
1993 to 1995, the PA followed the curricula of Egypt and Jordan.  The topics taught 
in these books are:  Civics, Grammar, Literature, History, Geography and Islamic 
Studies.  The examiners made selections from peace-sensitive themes, and all selections 
are representative of a larger body of material with identical or similar messages. 
 None of the statements cited here appear only once in a given text.  All of them 
are repeated often in the same book and in most of the other textbooks as well.  
The quotations from the Palestinian schoolbooks cited here are only a few out of 
hundreds of statements collected.  However, the material is so repetitive that even 
the relatively small selection of statements presented in this article suffices to 
convey both the tenor and substance of the entire collection. 
Another source of information about Palestinian education employed in this article 
is the PA’s television, which broadcasts many educational programs.  The PA television 
is a division of the Authority’s Ministry of Education.  Viewing of the programs 
broadcast during the period of March to August 1998 revealed that many of the messages 
appearing in the schoolbooks were repeated on the PA’s television.  No material was 
included from classic Islamic sources even when they portray the Jews negatively. 
 
Three Main Themes about Israel and Jews in the Schoolbooks of the PA
The main portion of this chapter will focus on three topics that appear as central 
leitmotifs throughout the books that were examined.  These themes emerge clearly 
from even a cursory reading of the texts.  They are: 
1.A hostile portrayal of Jews, Judaism, Israel and Zionism; 
2.The call for Jihad and martyrdom against Israel and its people in order to reconquer 
all of Palestine for Islam;
3.A radical revision of history denying the relationship between Jewry and the land 
of Israel, affirming the Arabs’ ownership of the territory of Israel since pre-Biblical 
times.  
1.  Hostility Towards the Jews
Hostility toward Israel, the Jews, Judaism and Zionism permeates the PA’s schoolbooks. 
 The schoolchildren in the Palestinian Authority are actively taught that the Jews 
and Israel are the enemy: The enemy of the Arabs, of Islam, of believers, and of 
people in general since the Jews are evil and dangerous.  They are killers and robbers, 
and have stolen Arab land.  Zionism is a synonym for Nazism, both of which are the 
prototype of racism.  The Jews hate Moslems (from the text: Our Arabic Language, 
Part 2, 3rd grade, #523, page 9), they have killed and evicted the Moslem and Christian 
inhabitants of Palestine.  Those who remain (in Israel) still suffer oppression and 
persecution under Jewish racist administration (Islamic Education, 9th grade, #589, 
page 182).  “One must beware of the Jews for they are treacherous and disloyal.” 
(Islamic Education, 9th grade, page 79).  “The clearest examples of racist belief 
and racial discrimination in the world are Nazism and Zionism.” (The New History 
of the Arabs and the World, page 123).  “Zionism is a political, aggressive and colonialist 
movement, which calls for the Judaization of Palestine by the expulsion of its Arab 
inhabitants…”(Modern Arab History and Contemporary Problems, Part 2, 10th grade, 
#613, page 49).  “Jewish gangs waged racial cleansing wars against innocent Palestinians…large 
scale appalling massacres saving no women or children.” (PA television, May 14, 1998). 
One final quotation concludes this section on the teaching of hostility toward the 
Jews. 
Mankind has suffered from this evil both in ancient as well as in modern times, 
for, indeed, Satan has, in the eyes of many people, made their evil actions appear 
beautiful until they thought that their race was the best of all, and their kind 
better than all others, and that other people are their slaves and do not reach their 
level.  Such a people are the Jews.  (Islamic Education, 8th grade, #523, page 9). 
2.  Jihad and Martyrdom:  The Moslem “Children’s Crusade”
Jihad and martyrdom are central to an understanding of the entire political orientation 
of Palestinian education regarding the Jews, and indeed of education in other Arab 
countries as well.  Turning first to Jihad, it can be noted that there are different 
kinds of Jihad but the highest level and most frequently stressed meaning is the 
Jihad (Holy War) that involves risking one’s own life, as the following quotations 
from the textbook on Islam for the 7th grade explains unequivocally:
Jihad involving risk of one’s life: This is by fighting enemies and standing firm 
against them in wars and battles.  This is the highest level of Jihad because the 
Jihad fighter sacrifices himself for Allah’s way and for his religion, and to defend 
the Islamic nation…(Islamic Education, 7th grade, page 107). 
…if the enemy has conquered part of its (Muslim) land and those fighting for it 
are unable to repel the enemy, then Jihad becomes the individual religious duty of 
every Muslim man and woman, until the attack shall have been successfully repulsed 
and the land liberated from conquest and Muslim honor satisfied.  (Ibid., page 108). 
 
The reference in these quotations an enemy who conquered Muslim land is to Israel 
as the conqueror of Palestine, and the name Palestine refers to all of Israel, not 
just to the territory presently controlled by the PA.  In a textbook called Geography 
of the Arab Homeland directed at the 6th grade, there are 19 maps where present day 
Israel is marked “Palestine” (see pages 12, 20, 23, 36, 48, 50, 53, 55, 61, 66, 72, 
73, 75, 80, 81, 88, 90, 115, 124).  Maps of the Middle East in which Israel does 
not exist and its area is marked as “Palestine” appear 11 times in the textbook called 
Social and National Education directed at the 5th grade (part A #549, see pages 81, 
84, 88, 89, 103, 107, 109, 110, 120, 122, 124).  The children in the PA schools are 
being taught to prepare themselves for armed warfare against Israel as the enemy, 
and that the Jews (not the Arabs, of course) residing within the present borders 
of Israel are designated as the objects of Jihad, namely, targets to be killed!  
To dispel any doubt about the meaning and object of Jihad and what is taught to schoolchildren 
in the PA, we quote the following poem which was read aloud from a schoolbook by 
a young girl attending a PA summer camp and broadcast on the PA official television 
on May 14, 1998 (and repeated on other days as well):
My brothers! The oppressors have overstepped the boundary.  Therefore Jihad and 
sacrifice are a duty... are we to let them steal its Arab nature…Draw your sword…let 
us gather for war with red blood and blazing fire…Death shall call and the sword 
shall be crazed from much slaughter…Oh Palestine, the youth will redeem your land…
The parallel between this “poem” and many school texts employed by German educators 
during the Nazi period is striking.  The following lines are taken from a poem that 
appeared in the journal called Der Jungman published in 1942 at an elite school in 
Germany named Napoli that supplied a large number of trainees for the SS: 
Paradise lies in the shadow of the sword
Courage is more than the power of the sword…
No man sees the struggle, which I initiate with steel blades
Effeminate is the man who does not fight with
Weapons which he holds in his hands
etc …(quoted from Blackburn, 1985, pages 136-137)
The Martyr Fights for Allah
The second term to be examined is martyrdom, which is part of Jihad (although not 
every act of Jihad ends in martyrdom).  Great importance is attached to the religious 
duty fulfilled by someone who dies fighting for Islam, and on the enormous reward 
provided by Allah that awaits him/her in Paradise.  Again, the following quotations 
from PA textbooks are unambiguous:
Martyrdom is when a Muslim is killed for the sake of Allah…A person who dies thus 
is called a “Martyr” (Shahid)…Martyrdom for Allah is the hope of all those who believe 
in Allah and have trust in His promises…The Martyr rejoices in the paradise that 
Allah has prepared for him…  (Islamic Education for Seventh Grade, #564, page 112). 
The Muslim sacrifices himself for his faith and fights a Jihad for Allah.  He does 
not know cowardice because he understands that the time of his death is already ordained 
and that his dying as a Martyr on the field of battle is preferable to dying in bed… 
 (Islamic Education for Eighth Grade, #576, page 176).  
Song of the Martyr  (a poem to be learned by heart)
I shall take my soul in my hand
And hurl it into the abyss of death (in war)…
Upon your life, I see my death
and am marching speedily towards it
Upon your life, this is the death of men
And he who seeks an honorable death –this is that death. :  (Our Arabic Language 
for Fifth Grade, #542, page 60), (Guide for Improving Arabic Language for Twelfth 
Grade, #719, page 84), (PA television May 22, 1998).
Islam versus Judaism and the West
Many of the statements found in these texts mention Palestine, invariably referring 
to all of present day Israel.  However, it is abundantly clear that the overall context 
of the Jihad against the Jews and against Israel is the more fundamental war between 
Islam and the Moslems against Israel and the Jews, not just the conflict between 
the Palestinian Arabs and Israelis.  Indeed, it is a war between Islam and Judaism, 
and even a war between Islam and the entire Western world.  The PA textbooks are 
careful to avoid stating explicitly that this war includes the Christians and the 
Christian nations.  On the contrary, an effort is made to mention Christians now 
and then in a positive light despite the frequent sweeping denunciation of Western 
civilization as if it excluded the Christians.  Here are a few typical citations:
Remember: The final and inevitable result (of Jihad) will be victory of the Moslems 
over the Jews.  (Our Arabic Language, 5th grade, page 67).  
This religion will defeat all other religions and it will be disseminated, by Allah’s 
will, through the Muslim Jihad fighters.  (Islamic Education, 7th grade, page 125). 
 
In the present period, which exceeds all previous periods in the material and scientific 
advances taking place, social, psychological and medical scientists in the West are 
perplexed by the worrying increase in the number of people suffering from nervous 
disorders…and the statistics from America in this matter are a clear indication of 
this…There is no escape from (the need for) a new civilization... The Western world 
is not capable of fulfilling this role... There is only one nation capable of discharging 
this task and that is our nation (Islam). . . We do not claim that the collapse of 
Western civilization, and the transfer of the center of civilization to us (Islam) 
will happen in the next decade or two or even in fifty years, for the rise and fall 
of civilizations follow natural processes... Nevertheless (Western civilization) 
has begun to collapse and to become a pile of debris.  (Some Outstanding Examples 
of our Civilization, 11th grade, pages 3, 12, 16). 
The Jews adopted a position of hostility and deception towards the new religion 
(Islam).  They called Muhammad a liar and denied him, they fought against his religion 
in all ways and by all means, a war that has not yet ended until today, and they 
conspired with the hypocrites and the idolaters against him and they are still behaving 
in the same way…(Islamic Education, 7th grade, #564, page 123, 125). 
Arab Propaganda is Anti-Semitic, Not Anti-Zionist as Claimed
The quotations cited above embody several basic features of Arab hostility toward 
the Jews, including the reference to the Jews’ role in ancient history which the 
Arabs’ have traditionally denounced because the Biblical stories do not corroborate 
Islam’s claim to have inherited Abraham’s legacy.  This sweeping denunciation of 
the Jews encompasses all of known history, and is uttered allegedly in the name of 
all humanity.  Obviously, such a stance has little to do with Zionism and everything 
to do with an inveterate anti-Semitism that is being passed on unchanged to all Arab 
children from an early age in the territory of the Palestinian Authority, just as 
it appeared in the publications and media of many Arab nations for decades (Harkabi, 
1972).  In light of these and many similar statements made throughout the PA’s books 
for schoolchildren, it is patently contradictory for the PA to claim that it opposes 
Zionism and is not anti-Semitic.  
These statements confirm once again, if confirmation is still needed, that the anti-Zionist 
orientation of the Arabs, of the PLO, and of the other Arab terrorists groups, was 
only a thin camouflage to veil a more basic anti-Jewish animosity during this entire 
century.  Again, this orientation stems from a long history of enmity between Islam 
and the Jews, which may have been relatively benign or latent in some periods, but 
burst out in violence in others.  Anti-Zionism has become a convenient code to replace 
the less palatable term anti-Semitism (Lewis, 1984, 1986).  
Teaching Children Self-Immolation for God and Country 
The emphasis placed by the PA on Jihad and martyrdom is not confined to lessons 
taught in school through books.  Summer camps under the auspices of the PLO before 
the establishment of the PA, and now under the Palestinian Authority were, and are, 
military training incommanded by officers in the PLO, as they have been for the past 
twenty years.  Hundreds of boys aged 10 to 15 (contrary to a written order to induct 
only children aged 12 or above!) were trained by the PLO to operate rocket propelled 
grenades.  During the Lebanese war these boys became known as the “RPG kids” (Israeli, 
1983, 222-225).  Hundreds others learned to use Kalashnikov automatic rifles, which, 
on more than a few occasions, they fired into their own school classrooms.  The Israel 
army arrested over 200 of these boys during the Lebanese war and released them shortly 
afterwards. 
Self-immolation in pursuit of a cause considered to be sacred, either because of 
its origin in holy writ, as a form of protest (such as Bhuddist monks during the 
Vietnamese war), or in deference to a powerful monarch, is certainly not unknown 
in history.  Yet, the phenomenon of suicide squads whose main motive is to harm an 
enemy through their own death, has not been widespread heretofore.  However pathological 
the educational indoctrination of the Hitler Jugend in Nazi Germany, or the Komsomol 
in the Soviet Union, (whose juvenile members were prepared to spy and inform on their 
own parents and thus bring about their ruin or even death) those countries did not 
really brainwash their own young children to immolate themselves while they were 
still children as an act of patriotism, although they committed many acts of violence 
(Blackburn, 1985).  Nor were they ordered as children to confront armed soldiers 
by pelting them with rocks while their fathers remained in hiding, as was the case 
during the Palestinian uprising (Intifada) against Israel, and as is still practiced 
by the Palestinians after the Oslo and Wye River agreements.  
In the modern world, the primary examples of religious and/or patriotic self-sacrifice 
are from the Far East.  Two famous examples of children exploited as warriors who 
committed extreme acts of cruelty, albeit in different forms, are the Red Brigades 
of the Chinese Cultural Revolution  (their average age was reported to be about 14 
years old), and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.  The 12 to 14 year olds of the Red Brigades 
reportedly caused the death of over 40 thousand intellectuals in China.  The Khmer 
Rouge trained tens of thousands of young people to serve as soldiers whose extreme 
cruelty in exterminating vast numbers (reports vary from one to two million) of their 
own countrymen is one of the bloodcurdling atrocities of the post WWII era.  Only 
severe ideological blindness can ignore or underestimate the potential impact of 
long years of indoctrination by a propaganda driven state “education” on the lives 
of its young victims, and what they, in turn, will be capable of doing, indeed eager 
to do, when the opportunity arises.  (I’m not sure that William Golding thought of 
this eventuality when he wrote The Lord of the Flies, but it is consistent with his 
book).  There is more than ample evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of prolonged 
exposure to propaganda on children and adults.  Analysts of propaganda, who are sophisticated 
observers of human behavior, have already identified the critical components of effective 
persuasion, however false the content of the message may be, and we need not repeat 
their contributions here (Ekman, 1992; Milgram, in press; Pratkanis & Aronson, 1991). 
 We are attempting to point out some of the relatively unique characteristics of 
the Palestinian Authority’s particular brand of political education.             
          
The closest precedent to the Palestinian indoctrination of school-aged children 
for Jihad and martyrdom is the Japanese kamikaze pilots of WWII.  They sought to 
inflict maximum damage on an enemy they knew was of superior strength, and they knew 
too that, in the larger scheme of things, their mission was ultimately inexpedient. 
 Nevertheless the kamikaze considered the mission that inevitably entailed their 
personal death to be sacred, as it intended to restore some of the lost honor of 
the Emperor and of Japan.  Hence it was motivated by the powerful combination of 
both religious and national (not personal) factors.  A noted Israeli Orientalist 
and political commentator on Islamic affairs (Israeli, 1997), writing about the Japanese 
(Kamikaze) and Islamic forms of political suicide, as distinct from personal suicide 
(Hara-kiri), suggested the term “Islamikaze” and charted the sources and development 
of this movement.  It emerged in pre-Taliban Afghanistan, during the Russian occupation, 
where it now enjoys considerable support from the authorities.  Some indication of 
the consequences of this development - probably with more events of this kind in 
the offing - became evident in the damage inflicted on US installations in Africa. 
 However, use of the title Islamikaze does not imply that the Japanese kamikaze actually 
served as a conscious precedent for the Palestinian Arabs and the training of children 
to admire killing and strive to be terrorists. 
The Islamic Version of Education for Terrorism
The Islamic version of education for terrorism also shares with the Japanese kamikaze 
the feature of public admiration and sanction for their sacrifice.  There are, of 
course, several differences, the first of which is that the Japanese kamikaze were 
older than the Arab schoolchildren and were trained pilots in the Japanese airforce. 
 Second, the bodies of the kamikaze pilots were not recovered, so the public acclaim 
showered on the pilots was demonstrated before their deaths, and in respect to the 
families of the fallen men.  The children in the Palestinian Authority witness many 
public funerals of slain terrorists and other rituals where the main theme is support 
for terrorism against Jews and Israel, in addition to proclaiming the glory of the 
terrorists.  Funerals of young men killed in the pursuit of their missions, including 
those killed when their dynamite exploded while they were preparing bombs, are accompanied 
by a huge entourage.  Large pictures of the deceased are displayed and their deeds 
extolled.  The atmosphere of these frequent public funerals is charged with high-pitched 
emotions, loud wailing and chorus-like chanting of fierce threats to the Zionist 
enemy, to Israel and to Jews.  Often the same threats are voiced against the United 
States as well, and there is the inevitable burning of the flags of the two countries 
(Israel and the US).  Japanese children were not “socialized” into the role of kamikaze 
by constant exposure to the public display of admiration for the dead kamikaze pilots 
accompanied by thunderous threats hurled at the US.  Furthermore, all during the 
years of the Intifada, up to and including this very day, there have been numerous 
incidents of Arabs stoning Jews who unhappily found themselves driving through territory 
governed by the PA: They were, and are, attacked by small bands, or by large crowds, 
of rock throwing juveniles (and young men in their early twenties).  Sometimes these 
attacks end in death for the Jews, sometimes they manage to escape with wounds of 
varying severity.  This public drama makes a powerful impression on young children 
of all ages whose daily schooling provides the background for understanding and accepting 
the bloody spectacle they see so often before their very eyes.  What should be noted 
is the fact that, as best we know at this time, these violent events involving severe 
physical harm to people, with much blood pouring from them, do not appear to constitute 
a trauma for the young onlookers or participants precisely because they have been 
cognitively and emotionally prepared for them.  What to other youngsters without 
previous indoctrination would be a shocking experience, the Palestinian children 
and youth (we will never know how many) rationalize and accept these events as legitimate 
and normative.  This is especially true since these acts are carried out with total 
peer sanction and support as part of a gang or crowd.  The psychological consequences 
of such experiences, contrary to the prevailing opinion of psychologists in Western 
countries, are of a character type, becoming part of the personality, witan increase 
in aggressiveness and hostility toward others.  There are few signs so far of intra-personal 
conflicts resulting from these seemingly traumatic events that ordinarily, under 
different circumstances, could produce psycho-pathological symptoms or other forms 
of distress or disabled functioning.  (Macksoud, Dyregrov & Raundalen, 1993).  This 
topic deserves serious investigation. 
Most important, these acts of extreme violence are carried out in the name of God. 
 A discussion of the role of religion in general in providing justification for murder 
and violence of all kinds cannot be undertaken here, despite its direct relevance 
for our subject.  As noted earlier, Islam is not alone in exploiting children as 
cannon fodder, such as was done on a grand scale by Iran in its war with Iraq.  Nevertheless, 
it is deeply distressing to observe that, at the end of the 20th century, after all 
that has happened in the recent past, the God of one of the world’s great monotheistic 
religions is invoked by its devotees to consecrate acts of murder by young children 
who are taught to cry out “Allah Akhbar” (Allah is Great) when smashing the head 
of their victim with a huge rock! (Stav, 1989).  “For God and country” is a battle 
cry that is no longer trumpeted in our time…or at least, so some people thought! 
 Journalists asked some of these teenagers why they throw huge rocks at a private 
automobile driven by a Jewish man inside territory already evacuated by Israel and 
now governed by the Palestinian Authority?  The youths’ response, seen and heard 
on television, is that they, the Arab youth, suffered previously at the hands of 
the Israelis and they are justified in expressing their rage now at this Jew who 
was driving his car in their territory! One youth said during a TV interview that 
the attack on the driver of a private automobile was carried out on “orders from 
above”. Palestinian Arab youth are primed to carry out acts of violence, even murder, 
against defenseless people.  Their “conscience” is clean while the victim is the 
guilty one, and the adults who ordered this atrocity remain anonymous.  
One final quotation from a PA schoolbook reads like a preamble to the bloody spectacle 
seen recently on television (December 2, 1998):
The first words the young boy heard were the words “Jihad”, “attack” and “conquest”. 
…These words were constantly on his lips…  (The boy) Uqba grew up with the love of 
Jihad flowing through his veins and filling every fiber of his being…For him no joy 
equaled that of taking part in Jihad…Nothing gave him pleasure but the sight of swords 
and spears shining in the hands of the fighting horsemen.  Nothing was pleasing to 
his ear but the sound of the horses charging into battle and nothing gave him joy 
but the sight of the enemy lying dead on the battlefield, or defeated and fleeing 
for their lives.  Uqba showed heroism and courage…attacking them from his horse and 
hacking the enemy soldiers to pieces, coming down on them blow after blow, crushing 
their skulls… (Uqba bin Nafi’, or The Conqueror of Africa, 6th grade, #700, pages 
6 to 7, 43, 93, 96)
The Martyr’s Reward in Paradise
There is one more feature of Jihad and martyrdom that provides a powerful incentive 
for the youth to strive to participate in armed war against Israel and Jews as an 
ideal in life.  That feature is the nature of the personal reward they will receive 
in Paradise.  Of course, only the elite will be chosen to progress from the level 
of a soldier in the Jihad, with possible martyrdom, to the level of being a member 
of the Islamikaze suicide squads.  However, that topic is beyond the scope of this 
chapter since it is not related directly to the subject of school based indoctrination 
by the PA.  Nevertheless, the fact that the soldier of Jihad will be rewarded in 
Paradise if he dies for Islam is repeated frequently in the schoolbooks, and the 
nature of this reward is not an incidental matter.  Based on a variety of original 
sources, Professor Israeli described the nature of this reward as follows:   
In the popular image of the Moslem Paradise, the martyr can enjoy unlimited sex 
with the virgin girls of Paradise.  Some say that there will be 70 young women for 
every man.  After each act of love making, the girl’s virginity is miraculously restored 
in order to provide the martyr with virginal sexual gratification.  The same is true 
for the consumption of alcohol, the second major prohibition of Moslem society…which 
will flow freely.  (Israeli, 1997, page 73, note 21).  
Public acclaim, a non-ending orgy of sex and all the booze you can drink, constitute 
a powerful combination of incentives for igniting the imagination and motivation 
of pubescent youth, aged 12 and up.  Along with the emotionally charged scenes of 
actually stoning Jews and Jewish property, what more is needed to convince them that 
killing Jews is a worthy and honorable vocation?  The PA is certainly preparing a 
huge army for the future that, socially and psychologically, will be trained to commit 
unmitigated violence against Israel and the Jewish People on behalf of Islam, the 
Arabs and Palestine.  As already pointed out, the effectiveness of this early and 
prolonged indoctrination of school aged children is beyond doubt, nor can this policy 
of indoctrination be reconciled with the proclaimed desire to achieve peace with 
Israel.  
3.  Arab Revision of History
Diplomats, political scientists and others concerned with international relations 
frequently choose to ignore the historical dimension of conflicts between groups 
or nations since, obviously, history is not subject to manipulation in the present 
in order to reach solutions to conflicts.  Some authors assert that our so-called 
post-modern era has sloughed off history to live “better” in the here and now.  Nevertheless, 
the parties to inter-national conflicts often derive their identity, and hence their 
tie to their claims, on the basis of their historical traditions.  Parties to territorial 
or cultural conflicts are frequently eager to anchor their claims in historical precedent, 
which carries deep significance for those involved.  So much so, that when such legitimacy 
appears to be weak or lacking, groups may revise or fabricate the historical record 
to make it appear as if their legitimacy is in fact historically founded, or to attribute 
their historical legitimacy to factors that heretofore were not recognized as related 
to the group in question.  Historical revisionism thereby serves the twofold purpose 
of de-legitimizing a given group and attributing legitimacy to another (or to one’s 
own) group at one and the same time.  
The Palestinian Authority’s schoolbooks present to its pupils a far-reaching revision 
of history that virtually erases Jews from all connection with the land of Israel 
that is not negative.  They also fabricate viciously racist statements that are attributed 
to classical Jewish sources such as the Talmud, much along lines of the Protocols 
of the Elders of Zion that has served anti-Semites for close to two centuries, including, 
but not restricted to, Hitler and Stalin.  Simultaneously, the Jews are summarily 
de-legitimized: they are not a nation, they fabricated and falsified their ancient 
and modern history, and by so doing, they denied the historicity of the Arab claims 
to Palestine based on their descent from the Jebusites who lived in ancient Canaan. 
 
The Moslem claim that the Jews falsified Scripture is a relatively ancient phenomenon 
that emerged early in the history of Islam (Lewis, 1984).  The schoolchildren in 
the PA learn that it begins with the Biblical story of Abraham:
Abraham was a Moslem monotheist and was not from among the idolaters.  (Islamic 
Education, 5th grade, #540, page 143). 
Allah sent Moses to his people and sent down to them the Book of the Torah…However, 
later the Israelites rebelled against their Lord and distorted His book.  They argued 
and corrupted the land, and Allah, therefore, threatened them with torments of the 
Day of Judgement.  (Islamic Education, 6th grade, #551, pages 31-32).  
Dear pupil.  Do you know who the Palestinians are?  The Palestinian people are descended 
fthe Canaanites.  (National Palestinian Education, 5th grade, #550, page 19).  
Israel (of the Bible)…dwelled near Yemen…Their original religion in the days of 
our master Moses…it is strange that the Torah does not give it a name, and I almost 
dare say, it is Islam…Mt.  Sinai is Mt.  Sinin in Yemen…today’s Jews have no (biological) 
connection to the Israelites.  (Palestine:  History and Tradition, PA television, 
May 26, 1998).  
Jerusalem is a Palestinian Arab city, and it has no connection to Israel.  (PA television, 
May 24, 1998: Abd al-Rachman, PA official).  
Jerusalem is an ancient Arab city built by the Jebusite Arabs before Islam...  (Islamic 
Culture, 8th grade, #576, page 50).  
Exercise: Distinguish between verb and noun clauses.  "The land is our land and 
Jerusalem is ours."  (Our Arabic Language, 5th grade, #542, page 74).  
The Jews have clear greedy designs on Jerusalem.  They believe that their state 
is not complete without Jerusalem as its capital, which is what they claim.  The 
proof of this is that their Minister of Defense declared on the third day of the 
war of 1967, together with the Prime Minister, when both of them were standing by 
“el-Buraq” which they call the Western Wall:  “We have returned to you, Jerusalem, 
and we shall never part from you again.  You are not just the capital of ‘Israel’ 
but the capital of the entire Jewish People.”…Thus do the Jews conspire, before the 
eyes and ears of the Arabs and the Moslems.  What can we do to rescue Jerusalem and 
to liberate it from the thieving enemy…?  (Reader and Literary Texts, 8th grade, 
#578, pages 96, 99).  
Finally, the PA falsely attributes the following quotation to classic sources of 
Judaism (though no such statement existed prior to its invention by the PA): 
It is mentioned in the Talmud:  ’We (the Jews) are God’s people on earth…(God) forced 
upon the human animal and upon all nations and the races that they serve us, and 
He spread us through the world to ride on them and hold their reigns.  We must marry 
our beautiful daughters with kings, ministers and lords and enter our sons into various 
religions, thus, we will have the final word in managing the countries.  We should 
cheat them (the non-Jews) and arouse quarrels among them, then they fight each other…Non 
Jews are pigs who God created in the shape of man in order that they be fit for service 
for the Jews, and God created the world for them (the Jews).’  (The New History of 
the Arabs and the World, page 120)
Palestinian Reaction to the Quotations from the Schoolbooks
In an interview with an Israeli journalist, the head of the Palestinian Broadcasting 
Corporation, Mr. Radwan Abu Ayyash, commented on the large collection of quotations 
from the PA’s schoolbooks compiled and made available by the Jerusalem-based Palestine 
Media Watch.  As reported by Isabel Kershner, writing in The Jerusalem Report of 
December 21 (1998), he said, inter alia:  “If some sheikh says live on TV that all 
Israelis should be thrown into the sea, what can I do?  Cut off his tongue? …I can’t 
change the hearts, the brains, the language of my people.  I can’t make them fall 
in love by force.  We are journalists, mirrors, reflectors.  I’m not here to lie, 
or to make propaganda.” (page 32). 
The Palestinian Authority TV director’s response to the mass of quotations from 
current schoolbooks is, of course, a skillful avoidance of the issue.  It is precisely 
the official policy of the government that is reflected in the books that all children 
in school must read, not the sentiments of the population or of any particular individual, 
in Israel or in the PA’s territory.  At the outset of this article we explicitly 
disclaimed the assumption that a review of textbooks informs us about the ideas, 
attitudes or feelings of the general population.  Mr. Abu Ayyash was certainly aware 
of that fact when he skirted the question and disingenuously claimed that the quotations, 
in the schoolbooks as well as those made by children (often reading from those books) 
on the PA’s television, were expressions of popular opinion about which he can do 
nothing.  Whether the quotations express popular opinion or not is irrelevant.  
The point of the entire matter is that the Oslo and Wye River agreements refer to 
the nature of official policy that the PA undertook to disseminate among the Palestinian 
Arabs in its territory through official media.  Among these media are included the 
textbooks used in the schools, the radio, television and newspapers.  These media 
are under direct control of government agencies in the PA, they are not privately 
owned corporations that enjoy protection under a bill of rights or any other law. 
 What they express is government policy, not personal opinion.  No one would assert 
that every citizen of Israel loves the Palestinian Arabs.  I would venture to guess 
that not many Jews in Israel entertain illusions about the feelings of the Arabs 
in the Palestinian Authority for the Jews.  Yet, investigators would search in vain 
in official publications of the Israel government, for any expression of hostility 
toward Arabs anywhere of the kind found in the schoolbooks of the PA.  The assertion 
made by Abu Ayyash that the television is a reflection of popular sentiments, is 
a transparent attempt to deny responsibility for what is published and broadcast 
in the name of the Palestinian Authority.  That and other attempts to avoid the truth 
cannot obscure the basic fact that the Palestinian Authority’s own “educational” 
doctrine allows for no room in the territory known before 1948 as Palestine, and 
now known as Israel and the territories of the Palestinian Authority, for the Jews 
and Palestinian Arabs to live side by side without expecting perpetual warfare.  
Israel’s Educational Policy Regarding the Palestinians Following the Oslo Agreement
Israel’s official educational policy never sought to indoctrinate children with 
any ideology that expressed animosity toward any nation or religion, the Arabs and 
Islam included.  However, I leave that subject for others to investigate and to report 
their findings as they see them.  Here I will concentrate on Israel’s official educational 
policy immediately following the Oslo accords.  Israel (population just over 6 million) 
has a centralized educational system controlled by one Ministry of Education.  The 
executive director of the Ministry regularly issues a circular setting policy on 
a wide variety of topics for all of the schools in the nation.  This circular is 
to be found in every school and in the hands of each and every school principal. 
 Some of the guidelines for behavior appearing in this circular are in the form of 
suggestions regarding which principals retain a degree of discretion as to their 
adoption.  Other provisions are in the form of requirements that the principal is 
legally bound to implement.  Every year a topic is determined by the Ministry, called 
“The Central Topic” about which a special circular is issued.  All schools are asked 
to discuss that topic throughout the year with the students, often during a particular 
class session called “the educator’s hour” or “the social hour”, by which is meant 
one hour during a week devoted to a topic affecting society at large, and often (though 
not always) it is “The Central Topic”. 
In May 1994, the executive director of the Israel Ministry of Education issued a 
circular entitled “The Central Topic for 1995: ‘The Peace Process – Israel in the 
Middle East,’ General Guidelines” (Executive Director’s Special Circular, 1994). 
 Similar topics, such as “Democracy” and “Respect for Others”, were announced for 
succeeding years.  These circulars are in the public domain and available in Israel’s 
main libraries for anyone to read, as well as in all of the schools.  A short overview 
of the general direction and tenor of this particular (1994) circular follows, including 
several direct quotations:
Peace is a broad topic, but the primary purpose of proclaiming this subject as the 
year’s “Central Topic” is to undertake an in-depth discussion and exploration of 
the process of achieving peace with the Palestinians and with the Arab nations.  
What will Israel the Middle East look like in an era of peace?  In these discussions, 
care must be taken to distinguish between the Arabs of Israel (i. e. Arab citizens 
of Israel), Palestinian Arabs, and the Arabs of each and every Arab nation surrounding 
Israel and with whom there are now, or will be in the future, negotiations for achieving 
a peace agreement.  The achievement of such agreements is to be presented as an existential 
need and goal of Israel.  Students should understand that disagreements between Israel 
and the Arab nations are legitimate.  
The overriding goal is to cultivate a tolerant citizen, aware of the values of peace, 
sensitive, attentive, involved, knowledgeable and one with a political perspective 
that is supported by well-grounded reasoning, one who can conduct a cultured dialogue 
with those who disagree with his/her perspective, and to develop empathy and understanding, 
without necessarily reaching agreement, for those with different ideas. (page 8). 
 
The circular goes on to explain to teachers the need for emphasizing the benefits 
of peace to both Arabs and Israel from social, economic and cultural points of view. 
 Teachers should emphasize the democratic aspects of the peace process, such as accepting 
the decision of the majority of the population regarding peace, the need for expressing 
dissent through accepted channels only, the basic rights of each and every person, 
etc.  Israel has begun a process of peace negotiations with groups that were former 
enemies, which changes the political status quo that prevailed in the region heretofore. 
 
Teachers and students alike are undergoing change that is necessary for adapting 
to the new situation.  In particular, students must learn to accept the need for 
political compromises, and to appreciate the need for “empathy… toward the Arabs 
with whom Israel is negotiating peace” (page 11). 
“There is an objective difficulty in the degree to which Israelis are prepared to 
establish close relations with Arabs and to trust them.” (page 13).  Teachers must 
help students overcome such difficulties after years of war and terrorism.  
This summary of Israel’s official educational response to the Oslo agreement should 
suffice to convey the depth of the chasm between the official educational policies 
of the Palestinian Authority and of Israel.  Obviously the two policies derive from 
totally different belief systems, as well as reflecting fundamentally incompatible 
intentions as far as the nature of peace between Arabs and Jews is concerned.  This 
state of affairs begs the question: How long can this asymmetrical set of expectations 
persist?  How long can the Israel public maintain its striving for rapprochement 
with the Palestinian Arabs in the face of such brute rejection?  Will the Arabs really 
change their attitudes and depiction of Jews and Israel in their media?  Or, will 
Arab political socialization of children and propaganda among the adult population 
continue as it is now, while Israel will be expected to ignore these facts and pursue 
a unilateral policy of peace (which, of course, is a contradiction in terms)?  It 
seems that Israel is being browbeaten into submission by the Western powers upon 
whom Israel relies for its survival, and who are largely indifferent to the price 
Israel pays for these agreements with the Palestinian Arabsn  
REFERENCES
Blackburn, Gilmer, (1985), Education in the Third Reich:  Race and History in Nazi 
Textbooks, Albany, New York:  State University of New York Press.  
Dennis, Jack (1973), Socialization to Politics: A Reader, New York:  John Wiley. 
 
Ekman, Paul, (1992), Telling Lies, New York:  W. W. Norton. 
Executive Director’s Special Circular (1994) – Jerusalem:  Israel Ministry of Education, 
May, No. 14. 
Greenstein, Fred, (1965), Children and Politics, New Haven: Yale University Press. 
Harkabi, Yehoshafat, (1972), Arab Attitudes to Israel, Jerusalem: Israel Universities 
Press. 
Hess, Robert & Torney, Judith, (1976), The Development of Political Attitudes in 
Children, Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co. 
Ichilov, Orit, (1984), The Political World of Children and Youth, Tel-Aviv:  Yachdav 
(Hebrew).  
Israeli, Raphael, (ed.), (1983), PLO in Lebanon:  Selected Documents, London:  Weidenfeld 
and Nicolson. 
Israeli, Raphael, (1997), "Islamikaze–Suicide Terrorism", vol. 54-55, pp. 69-76 
(Hebrew).  
Lewis, Bernard, (1967), The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam, London:  Weidenfeld 
and Nicolson. 
Lewis, Bernard, (1984), The Jews of Islam, Princeton, New Jersey:  Princeton University 
Press. 
Lewis, Bernard, (1986), Semites and Anti-Semites, New York: W. W. Norton. 
Macksoud, Mona, Dyregrov, Atle & Raundalen, Magne, (1993), "Traumatic War Experiences 
and Their Effects on Children", in: Wilson, J. & Raphael, B., (eds.), International 
Handbook of Traumatic Stress Syndromes, New York:  Plenum Press, 625-633. 
Merelman, Richard, (1969), “The Development of Political Ideology:  A Framework 
for the Analysis of Political Socialization", American Political Science Review, 
63, 750-767.  
Milgram, N., (in press), "Propaganda", in, Kazdin, A., (ed.), Encyclopedia of Psychology, 
Washington, DC:  American Psychological Association.   
Pratkanis, Anthony & Aronson, Elliot, (1991), Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use 
and Abuse of Persuasion, New York:  W. H. Freeman and Co. 
Porat, Dina, Stauber, Roni & Vago, Raphael, (eds.), (1997), Anti-Semitism Worldwide: 
1996/7, Anti-Defamation League/The World Jewish Congress:  Ramot-Tel-Aviv University. 
Stav, Arieh, (1989), "Allah Akhbar: Some Comments on the Arab-Islamic Ethos", Nativ, 
September, No. 5 (10), pp. 63-67, (Hebrew).  
Stav, Arieh, (1996), The Peace – Arab Caricature: A Study in anti-Semitic Image, 
Tel-Aviv: Zmora-Bitan (Hebrew).  
Ð

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