Featuring the glorification of martyrdom, maps from which Israel is missing, and promises of hellfire for infidels, the textbooks issued by the Palestinian Authority cannot be said to be preparing a generation of young Palestinians for peaceful coexistence with the Jewish state. Dov Lieber writes:
In the Palestinian history books for grades ten through twelve, there are full chapters dedicated to World War II but no mention of the Holocaust. . . . Islamic-studies textbooks . . . celebrate martyrdom, including a fourth-grade textbook that invites the children to write about a Palestinian martyr of their choice. . . . The issue of paradise and the division between believers (Muslims) and nonbelievers permeate the textbooks. . . .
The erasure of Israel’s physical existence begins early, with cartoons in first-grade textbooks showing stores in Arab Palestine—among them a pharmacy in Safed, a supermarket in Haifa, and a candy store in Beersheba. All three cities were under Israeli control long before 1967.
More about: Education, Israel & Zionism, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian public opinion