Editing UNRWA (section)

====Textbook controversy====
{{Main|Textbooks in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict}}
In 2005 Nathan Brown, Professor of Political Science at [[George Washington University]], wrote a short but comprehensive review article about textbooks used by Palestinians, focusing especially on changes starting in 1994.
<blockquote>The [[Oslo Accords|Oslo agreements]] resulted in the dismantling of the Israeli office responsible for censorship of textbooks. Administration of the education system for all Palestinian students in the West Bank and Gaza was taken over by the Palestinian Authority. Other Palestinian schools administered by UNRWA in neighboring countries were unaffected. With the end of UNESCO monitoring of the books, UNRWA moved to develop supplementary materials to teach tolerance in the schools it administered.<ref>{{cite web|last=Brown|first=Nathan J.|title=Textbooks, use by Palestinians. In Mattar, Phillip, ed. Encyclopedia of the Palestinians, Revised Edition. New York: Facts on File, Inc.|year=2005|url=http://www.fofweb.com/History/MainPrintPage.asp?iPin=EPAL316&DataType=WorldHistory&WinType=Free|access-date=30 August 2014|archive-date=3 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903150033/http://www.fofweb.com/History/MainPrintPage.asp?iPin=EPAL316&DataType=WorldHistory&WinType=Free|url-status=live}}</ref>
</blockquote>

It is the PA textbooks used in UNRWA schools in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem that have been most extensively studied. The following discussions cannot be generalized to UNRWA schools elsewhere. In the beginning, the PA used books from Jordan and Egypt. In 2000 it started issuing its own books. Brown has pointed out that research into Palestinian textbooks conducted by the [[Centre for Monitoring the Impact of Peace]] in 1998 is misleading because it evaluates the old books; and in 2000, its research mixed old and new books.<ref name="pcdc.edu.ps" /> Brown investigated the differences between the new PA books and the ones being replaced.<ref name="pcdc.edu.ps">[http://www.pcdc.edu.ps/brown_research_summary.htm Getting Beyond the Rhetoric about the Palestinian Curriculum Summary of Research on Palestinian Textbooks] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415032604/http://www.pcdc.edu.ps/brown_research_summary.htm |date=15 April 2012 }}. By Nathan J. Brown, 1 January 2002.</ref>

Regarding the Palestinian Authority's new textbooks, he states:

<blockquote>The new books have removed the anti-Semitism present in the older books while they tell history from a Palestinian point of view, they do not seek to erase Israel, delegitimize, it or replace it with the "[[State of Palestine]]"; each book contains a foreword describing the West Bank and Gaza as "the two parts of the homeland"; the maps show some awkwardness but do sometimes indicate the [[Green Line (Israel)|1967 line]] and take some other measures to avoid indicating borders; in this respect they are actually more forthcoming than Israeli maps; the books avoid treating Israel at length but do indeed mention it by name; the new books must be seen as a tremendous improvement from a Jewish, Israeli, and humanitarian view; they do not compare unfavorably to the material my son was given as a fourth-grade student in a school in Tel Aviv".</blockquote>

In 2002, the [[United States Congress]] requested the [[United States Department of State]] to commission a reputable NGO to conduct a review of the new Palestinian curriculum. The [[Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information]] (IPCRI) was thereby commissioned by the US Embassy in [[Tel Aviv]] and the US Consul General in [[Jerusalem]] to review the textbooks. Its report was completed in March 2003 and delivered to the State Department for submission to Congress. Its executive summary states: "The overall orientation of the curriculum is [[peace education|peaceful]] despite the harsh and violent realities on the ground. It does not openly incite against Israel and the Jews. It does not openly incite hatred and violence. Religious and political tolerance is emphasized in a good number of textbooks and in multiple contexts."

IPCRI's June 2004 follow-up report notes that "except for calls for resisting occupation and oppression, no signs were detected of outright promotion of hatred towards Israel, Judaism, or Zionism" and that "tolerance, as a concept, runs across the new textbooks". The report also stated that "textbooks revealed numerous instances that introduce and promote the universal and religious values and concepts of respect of other cultures, religions, and ethnic groups, peace, human rights, freedom of speech, justice, compassion, diversity, plurality, tolerance, respect of law, and environmental awareness".

However, the IPCRI noted a number of deficiencies in the curriculum.

<blockquote>The practice of 'appropriating' sites, areas, localities, geographic regions, etc. inside the territory of the [[State of Israel]] as Palestine/Palestinian observed in our previous review, remains a feature of the newly published textbooks (4th and 9th Grade) laying substantive grounds to the contention that the Palestinian Authority did not in fact recognize Israel as the State of the Jewish people. ...</blockquote>

The summary also states that the curriculum asserts a historical Arab presence in the region, while:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ipcri.org/files/4&9report.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051016221049/http://www.ipcri.org/files/4%269report.pdf|url-status=usurped|title=Analysis and Evaluation of the New Palestinian Curriculum; Reviewing Palestinian Textbooks and Tolerance Education Program Grades 4 & 9|archive-date=16 October 2005}}</ref>
<blockquote>The Jewish connection to the region, in general, and the [[Holy Land]], in particular, is virtually missing. This lack of reference is perceived as tantamount to a denial of such a connection, although no direct evidence is found for such a denial." It also notes that "terms and passages used to describe some historical events are sometimes offensive in nature and could be construed as reflecting hatred of and discrimination against Jews and Judaism."
</blockquote>

The US State Department has similarly raised concerns about the content of [[Textbooks in the Palestinian territories#2009 US State Department's Human Rights report|textbooks used in PA schools]]. In its 2009 Human Rights report, the US Department of State wrote that after a 2006 revision of textbooks by the PA Ministry of Education and Higher Education, international academics concluded that books did not incite violence against Jews but showed imbalance, bias, and inaccuracy. The examples given were similar to those given by IPCRI.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/nea/136070.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100315154816/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/nea/136070.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2010-03-15|title=Israel and the occupied territories}}</ref>

In 2013 the results of a rigorous study, which also compared Israeli textbooks to PA textbooks, came out. The study was launched by the [[Munib Younan|Council for Religious Institutions in the Holy Land]], an interfaith association of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders in Israel and the Occupied Territories. The study was overseen by an international Scientific Advisory Panel and funded by the US State Department<ref>[http://www.crihl.org/content/israeli-palestinian-schoolbook-project Israeli-Palestinian schoolbook Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204092622/http://www.crihl.org/content/israeli-palestinian-schoolbook-project |date=4 February 2013 }}, Council of the Religious Institutions of the Holy Land, 2009.</ref> The Council published a report "Victims of Our Own Narratives? Portrayal of the 'Other' in Israeli and Palestinian School Books".<ref name="Ziri">Danielle Ziri, [http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=302102 "Textbooks show both sides to blame for enmity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130304221219/http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=302102 |date=4 March 2013 }}, ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]'', 4 February 2013.</ref> Most books were found to be factually accurate except, for example, through presenting maps that present the area from the river to the sea as either Palestine or Israel. Israeli schoolbooks were deemed superior to Palestinian ones with regard to preparing children for peace, although various depictions of the "other" as enemy occurred in 75% of Israeli, and in 81% of Palestinian textbooks.<ref name="Ackerman">Gwen Ackerman [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-04/israeli-palestinian-textbooks-reflect-narratives-of-conflict.html 'Israeli, Palestinian Textbooks Reflect Narratives of Conflict,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502001206/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-04/israeli-palestinian-textbooks-reflect-narratives-of-conflict.html |date=2 May 2014 }} at [[Bloomberg L.P.|Bloomberg com]], 4 February.</ref> The study praised both Israel and the Palestinian Authority for producing textbooks almost completely unblemished by "dehumanizing and demonizing characterizations of the other". Yet many troubling examples were given of both sides failing to represent each other in a positive or even adequate way. And the problem was more pronounced in PA textbooks.<ref name="Sanders">Edmund Sanders, [https://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-israeli-palestinian-textbooks-unbalanced-20130204,0,3549890.story 'Israeli and Palestinian textbooks fail balance test, study finds,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130227112539/http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-israeli-palestinian-textbooks-unbalanced-20130204,0,3549890.story |date=27 February 2013 }} at [[Los Angeles Times]], 4 February 2013</ref>
* Neutral depictions of "the other" were found in 4% of Israeli, and 15% of Palestinian textbooks.
* Overall negative or very negative representations of Palestinians occurred 49% of the time in Israeli state school books (73% in Haredi school books) and in 84% of Palestinian textbooks.<ref name="Sanders" />
* Highly negative characterizations were discerned in 26% of Israeli state school books and 50% of the Palestinian ones.<ref name="Ziri" />

All in all there seems to be broad agreement that there is continual improvement in the textbooks used by UNRWA—but very strong disagreement about whether the improvement is sufficient. In response to a critical report{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} written in 2009 by former UNRWA general counsel James G. Lindsay, fellow researcher for [[Washington Institute for Near East Policy]] [[John Ging]], head of UNRWA Gaza, said: "As for our schools, we use textbooks of the Palestinian Authority. Are they perfect? No, they're not. I can't defend the indefensible."{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

UNRWA has taken many steps since 2000 to supplement the PA curriculum with concepts of human rights, nonviolent conflict resolution, and tolerance. According to the UNRWA website:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unrwa.org/what-we-do/human-rights-education |title=What we do: Human Rights Education |publisher=UNRWA |access-date=5 January 2015 |archive-date=11 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411110651/http://www.unrwa.org/what-we-do/human-rights-education |url-status=live }}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=December 2023}}

<blockquote>We have been delivering human rights education in our schools since 2000 to promote non-violence, healthy communication skills, peaceful conflict resolution, human rights, tolerance, and good citizenship. In May 2012, the Agency endorsed its new Human Rights, Conflict Resolution and Tolerance (HRCRT) Policy to further strengthen human rights education in UNRWA. This policy builds upon past successes, but also draws from international best practices and paves the way to better integrate human rights education in all our schools. The HRCRT Policy reflects the UNRWA mandate of quality education for Palestine refugees and sets out a common approach among all UNRWA schools for the teaching and learning of human rights, conflict resolution and tolerance. The vision of the policy is to "provide human rights education that empowers Palestine refugee students to enjoy and exercise their rights, uphold human rights values, be proud of their Palestinian identity, and contribute positively to their society and the global community."</blockquote>In 2021, the Australian and Canadian governments started investigating UNRWA, and the British government found that UNRWA had produced and disseminated textbooks inciting violence. UNRWA blocked public access to its website contents in response. [[Philippe Lazzarini|Phillipe Lazzarini]] admitted to the European Parliament that the study materials in UNRWA's schools featured incitement to violence, glorification of acts of terror, and antisemitism,<ref name=":9">{{Cite news |title=How UNRWA Became the Second-most Influential Organization in Gaza After Hamas |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/2023-12-12/ty-article-magazine/.premium/how-unrwa-became-the-second-most-important-organization-in-gaza/0000018c-5deb-d798-adac-fdefaf450000 |access-date=2023-12-12 |archive-date=14 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214092351/https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/2023-12-12/ty-article-magazine/.premium/how-unrwa-became-the-second-most-important-organization-in-gaza/0000018c-5deb-d798-adac-fdefaf450000 |url-status=live }}</ref> but insisted that the agency takes steps to prevent the material from being taught.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNRWA Chief Challenged by EU Parliament on PA Textbooks, acknowledges antisemitism, glorification of terrorism |url=https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=cda888712516195d04c9534ec&id=9e510e8a3e |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=us13.campaign-archive.com |archive-date=12 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212222631/https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=cda888712516195d04c9534ec&id=9e510e8a3e |url-status=live }}</ref>

A review performed in 2024 names using "host-country textbooks with problematic content" as one of the issues with UNRWA's neutrality.<ref name="magramo">{{cite news |last1=Magramo |first1=Kathleen |last2=Edwards |first2=Christian |last3=Sangal |first3=Aditi |title=UNRWA neutrality must be strengthened, independent review finds |url=https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-04-22-24#h_04e164891070a0708f16b13ac2285323 |work=CNN |date=22 April 2024 |language=en |access-date=24 April 2024 |archive-date=24 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424115416/https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-04-22-24/h_04e164891070a0708f16b13ac2285323 |url-status=live }}</ref> The review states "Three international assessments of PA textbooks in recent years have provided a nuanced picture,..Two identified presence of bias and antagonistic content, but did not provide evidence of antisemitic content. The third assessment, by the [German-based] [[Georg Eckert Institute]], studied 156 PA textbooks and identified two examples that it found to display antisemitic motifs but noted that one of them had already been removed, the other has been altered."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/22/israel-unrwa-staff-terrorist-links-yet-to-provide-evidence-colonna-report|title=Israel has yet to provide evidence of Unrwa staff terrorist links, Colonna report says|first=Julian|last=Borger|date=22 April 2024|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=22 April 2024|archive-date=22 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240422141150/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/22/israel-unrwa-staff-terrorist-links-yet-to-provide-evidence-colonna-report|url-status=live}}</ref>