IN their letter Liz Thompson and Katrina Blythe suggest the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has made enormous strides in developing its education system (TES, May 10).
However, the Centre for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, in evaluating 58 textbooks and two teachers’ guides introduced between 2000 and 2002, concludes: “The educational approach employed by the PNA does not reflect international standards as defined by UNESCO. The textbooks do not teach acceptance of Israel’s existence on the national level, and instead of working to erase hateful stereotypes, the new curriculum is instilling them into the next generation.”
Surely no educator can believe that books teaching “Remember, the final inevitable result will be the victory of the Muslims over the Jews” (Our Arabic Language) are acceptable. As the Board of Deputies stated in a dossier on “anti-Semitism abroad”, it is only when education is used to fight prejudice, not to engender it, that we can hope for peace.
Aviva Dautch
Education projects co-ordinator
Board of Deputies of British Jews
