by Ohad Merlin
According to a new IMPACT-se report, despite international expectations and hopes, the PA-sanctioned school material failed to reduce inflammatory and inciting rhetoric.
Swearing allegiance to October 7, commending terrorists who murdered children, and counting “martyrs” in math classes – all these are found in the new PA-sanctioned “revised” curriculum implemented in schools in Gaza.
The international research institute IMPACT-se (Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education) released a report analyzing the recently introduced curriculum for Gaza, produced by the Palestinian Authority in response to prolonged disruptions in education following the October 7 attacks and subsequent war.
According to the report, despite international expectations for reform, the new textbooks continue to promote antisemitic narratives, glorify violence, and even celebrate the mass murders carried out on October 7.
The newly developed educational materials are now being taught to over 290,000 students in Grades 1–12 across Gaza, following the launch of the 2024-25 academic year on February 23, 2025.
The PA had the opportunity to revise its curriculum in alignment with commitments made to the European Union in July 2024, promising to ensure compliance with UNESCO’s standards of peace and tolerance in exchange for continued EU funding. However, IMPACT-se’s findings indicate that these promises were disregarded. Instead, the revised materials perpetuate longstanding issues that have plagued PA curricula for years.
‘Jews are manipulators, murderers are heroes’
The report revealed that antisemitic tropes remain deeply embedded in the Palestinian curriculum. For instance, a Grade 11 history textbook portrays Jews as manipulating world affairs, featuring an illustration of a hand bearing a Star of David gripping the globe.
The same textbook dismisses Jewish national identity as a fabricated justification for colonization. Similarly, materials from Islamic Education classes depict Jews as deceitful, immoral, and inherently hostile toward Islam.The concept of jihad as a religious obligation is a central theme in the new curriculum. From an early age, students are taught that martyrdom is a path to divine reward. For instance, a Grade 1 Arabic language exercise introduces the word “shahid” (martyr) as part of the alphabet-learning process.
Likewise, high school students encounter poetic imagery that romanticizes violence, such as “climbing mountains of their gushing blood.” A Grade 9 statistics exercise requires students to calculate the number of Palestinians “martyred” during conflicts with Israel.
Similarly, a Grade 3 math lesson teaches numerical writing through references to the number of Palestinians killed in the First Intifada, a series of terror attacks that resulted in the death of hundreds of Israelis.
Terrorists, including Dalal Mughrabi, who led the 1978 Coastal Road massacre, which killed 38 Israelis – including 13 children – are celebrated as role models. Students are encouraged to view violence against Israel as a noble and necessary duty.
Maps in the revised curriculum systematically erase Israel, depicting the entire territory as Palestine. In geography and civics lessons, cities such as Tel Aviv and Haifa are labeled as Palestinian, reinforcing the idea that Israel’s existence is illegitimate. A Grade 4 lesson declares that Palestinian refugees will “definitely return [to Jaffa], no matter how long it takes.”
IMPACT-se’s report also documented radicalizing classroom activities in four recently reopened schools in Gaza. At Al-Nasr Elementary School in Gaza City, students as young as seven recited poetry glorifying the October 7 attacks, referring to the attackers as “heroes” and “symbols of pride.” A message on the classroom blackboard read: “You are history, you are the Toufan [flood],” referencing Hamas’s name for the attacks, “al-Aqsa Flood.”
At Muscat Girls’ High School in Nuseirat, a textbook contained a poem by Egyptian poet Hashim Al-Rifa‘i that explicitly calls for armed clashes against Israel: “One day with the weapon in your hand” will bring about a return to Israeli cities.
In January 2025, a video emerged from Al-Safa wal-Marwa School showing young girls performing a nationalistic dance featuring throat-slitting gestures. The accompanying song included the lyrics: “We ignited the intifada, with a stone and a knife.” The students enthusiastically chanted: “Challenge accepted, where are the Zionist and the soldier?” – a direct call to violence.
‘Failed the litmus test’
According to IMPACT-se, the findings from the report raise concerns about the PA’s compliance with international education standards.
“The EU is set to hold a high-level dialogue with the PA next month in Brussels to assess the progress of curriculum reforms, and IMPACT-se will present its findings to European officials, urging them to hold the PA accountable for its failure to honor its commitments,” a spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post.
“Despite the opportunity to align with international standards of peace and tolerance, the Palestinian Authority’s revised Gaza curriculum continues to incite hatred, glorify violence, and erase Israel’s existence. The failure to reform educational materials raises serious ethical and political questions for donor nations supporting the PA’s education system.
The spokesperson said that as the EU prepares for its upcoming dialogue with the PA, the international community faces a crucial decision: “Whether to continue funding an education system that fuels extremism or to demand genuine curriculum reform as a prerequisite for financial support.”
IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff criticized the PA’s failure to reform its educational content.
“This moment was the acid test for the Palestinian Authority. It signed an agreement with the European Union committing to reform its curriculum. Instead, we see again that the PA continues to deeply embed hatred and violence in its curriculum and brazenly continues to teach antisemitism, the glorification of terrorism, and the dehumanization of Israelis.
“Palestinian classrooms remain a breeding ground for extremism, with new educational materials reinforcing the same old dangerous narratives. IMPACT-se will be in Brussels this week to present to EU officials how the PA has betrayed its agreement with them.”
Ohad Merlin
Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-847490
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