Over 20 members of the European Parliament from 15 different countries have called on the continental organization to withhold funding for the Palestinian Authority until it rids its school textbooks from hate and incitement against Israel.
The call came following a report published by the German-based Georg Eckert Institute that claimed it had not found any incitement against Israel in Palestinian school books.
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A page from a Palestinian textbook found inciting hate against Israel
(Photo: IMPACT-se)
Only later was it reported that the textbooks reviewed by the institute were actually Arabic-language Israeli textbooks for schools in East Jerusalem, which were falsely presented as Palestinian schoolbooks promoting peace with the Jewish state.
Another report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) has found little improvement in the Palestinian Authority's 2020-2021 curriculum, with some textbooks appearing more extreme than in past editions.
Following the IMPACT-se report's findings, members of the cross-party Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) interparliamentary group wrote an open letter addressed to EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, and Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi, urging the commission to cut ties with the Georg Eckert Institute.
They urged immediate steps to withhold funding for Palestinian education, pointing out that the salaries of PA education sector civil servants are funded by the EU.
"As part of the interests to advance peace and put an end to harmful incitement, we suggest the Commission put a 5% reserve on funding for the Palestinians until such time that it makes substantive positive changes to the textbooks," the MEPs wrote.