LONDON: A Middle East policy institute has accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) of being anti-Israeli in its work in Gaza and the West Bank. According to Arnon Grois of the Center for Near East Policy Research, the UN agency is inciting Palestinian militancy. “The Palestinian curriculum taught at UNRWA schools is not a curriculum of peace,” said Groiss. “It is rather a curriculum of delayed war against Israel.” He was referring to a set of textbooks published by the agency in 2002, which also published a poem titled “The Martyr,” which has spurred anger among the pro-Israel lobby. “Hearing (weapons) clash is pleasant to my ear and the flow of blood gladdens my soul,” the poem reads. He also alleged another Grade 7 textbook from 2011 teaches, “The coming of the Jewish throngs to Palestine continued until 1948 and their goal was taking over the Palestinian lands and then taking the original inhabitants' place after their expulsion or extermination.” UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness told reporters that those are selective quotes taken out of context and the antagonism toward their efforts toward education is misleading. “On top of the ordinary curriculum of the host government, we teach human rights and we teach conflict resolution,” Gunness said. Gunness continued to say that although UNRWA schools in Gaza and the West Bank teach curriculum developed by the Palestinian Authority, teachers have taken concerns about material to authorities for review. Textbooks have, for many years, struck a chord between both Palestinians and Israelis, who accuse both sides of illicit propaganda in their texts. “We have neutrality, checks and balances in our education system, which make it extremely unlikely that (anti-Israel) stuff will be taught in UNRWA schools,” he said. George Washington University professor Nathan Brown has done extensive research into textbooks in the region and has said that the curriculum does not incite violence against Israel. Brown concluded that the textbooks don't incite violence against Israel, but did add that “a far milder version of such criticisms – that the curriculum does little to support peace – would be accurate.” However, one international development worker in the West Bank told Bikyamasr.com that there is no need to incite violence in the educational system. The American worker, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said the reality on the ground “is enough” to anger Palestinians. “Both Israel and Palestine have issues that need to be looked into in terms of educational activities. Neither side is creating peace and this is a major difficulty we all run into,” said the worker, who deals with young Palestinian youth programs. BM
