UK MPs demand answers on botched inquiry into Palestinian education

Translation errors include a well-known Palestinian phrase for rock-throwers, “the Children of the Stones,” being mistranslated as “children stones,” with no indication as to what this might mean.

By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDS
A Palestinian girl looks out of a classroom window as she attends a lesson on the first day of a new school year, at a United Nations-run school in Khan Young in the southern Gaza Strip (photo credit: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA)
A Palestinian girl looks out of a classroom window as she attends a lesson on the first day of a new school year, at a United Nations-run school in Khan Young in the southern Gaza Strip
(photo credit: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA)
UK Parliamentarians have called on the British government for answers, after it emerged that a jointly funded UK-EU study into Palestinian education has been apparently mishandled by the Institute hired to investigate claims of incitement to violence within the curriculum.
Labour Friends of Israel have requested “an urgent and detailed response,” after allegations were made on Tuesday that the study contains basic translation errors, has adopted a methodology that omits instances of antisemitism and hate education, and in some cases, reviewed Israeli textbooks in the Arabic language, rather than Palestinian Authority books.
The study was commissioned in April 2019, following a report at that time by the Jerusalem-based NGO Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), which reviewed a selection of Palestinian educational materials and found that the curriculum taught to Palestinian children was growing increasingly radicalized.
As both the UK and the EU fund Palestinian education through aid payments to the Palestinian Authority, the report led Parliamentarians in both institutions to question whether the money is being spent wisely.
The Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research (GEI), based in Germany, was selected to carry out the investigation, with results initially expected to be released in September 2019. This May, with no report in sight, the UK announced an Interim Report would be released in June, with the full report coming later in the year.
On July 1, the EU announced that the Interim Report would not be published. However, IMPACT-se this week uncovered a presentation apparently on the report, which appears to reveal numerous errors within the work.
Translation errors include a well-known Palestinian phrase for rock-throwers, “the Children of the Stones,” being mistranslated as “children stones,” with no indication as to what this might mean.
Of greater concern are queries over the choice of methodology: not only has the institute not surveyed the full curriculum being taught, in some instances it appears to have used Israeli textbooks in place of Palestinian books leading to a false picture of the Palestinian curriculum.
In one example, Israeli and Palestinian firefighters are shown training alongside each other. “This example promotes tolerance towards Israeli Individuals,” the researchers said in their presentation. However, according to IMPACT-se: “There is no positive portrayal of the Israeli-Jewish other ‘in an everyday context’ in the real Palestinian curriculum. This example has been taken from an Israeli Arabic textbook.”
“If accurate, IMPACT-se’s allegations seriously undermine the credibility of the textbook review and call into question its utility as a means to deal with the issue of incitement to violence in the PA curriculum,” LFI vice-chair Rt.-Hon. John Spellar MP wrote in a letter addressed to James Cleverly MP, minister for the Middle East.
“Given that the UK funded the Inception Report in its entirety and has contributed to the cost of the Interim Report, I would ask that you seek an urgent and detailed response to these claims,” Spellar continued.
Following publication of the claims, the EU has sought to distance itself from the presentation, telling The Jerusalem Post that the work referred to “a separate UK-funded study on the matter.” In his letter, Spellar also details that the EU has stated that it “has not used the inception report funded by the UK as the basis of the EU-funded study.”
Spellar has therefore requested that the government “seek an explanation from the GEI as to why the report it produced (which was commissioned by your department and funded by British taxpayers) has apparently proved to be of no use to the full review.” He continued: “Perhaps you could also explain what utility – if any – the inception report has, if, indeed, it’s not being used to inform the GEI’s work?”
Conservative Parliamentarians have also raised concerns. Stephen Crabb MP, Lord Pickles and Lord Polak of the Conservative Friends of Israel have jointly written to Foreign Minister Dominic Raab, asking him to confirm that it is not the intention of the British government to use taxpayers’ money for inciting violence in Palestinian schools.
“Members in both Houses of Parliament have expressed concerns about the content of teaching material supplied by the Palestinian Authority for use in schools. A curriculum that glorifies violence and encourages discord,” they wrote.
“Parliament was promised an honest assessment of the teaching material. Palestinian children returning for the new school year deserve better. It is unacceptable that these children will continue using textbooks that promote violence and hatred of Israel and Jews, taught by teachers paid for by the UK. British taxpayers have the right to know what it is actually being taught.”
Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se told the Post that he sympathized with the frustration of British parliamentarians.
“The Inception Report contained basic errors, the presentation of the Interim Report characterizes Jerusalem Municipality textbooks as Palestinian Authority textbooks and fulsomely praises the PA for the improvements,” he said. “It’s an embarrassment and deeply worrying.”
Sheff called upon the EU to come clean about the report and its findings.
“While this has been dragging on for two years, over one million Palestinian school children have been exposed to this material every day and continue to be radicalized by the Palestinian Authority,” he said.
“There are no secrets; these children and the parliamentarians know what is in these textbooks. The EU needs to be transparent and release the Interim report. It is not sitting on secret nuclear codes. It is a report on school textbooks after all.”


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