Posted: 7/11/2018 11:36:00 AM
Author: Eliana Schreiberr
Source: This article originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on July 11, 2018.
SYRIAN SCHOOL BOOKS UNDER ASSAD PREACH JIHAD, HATRED OF ISRAEL, U.S.
Study evaluating curriculum in schools controlled by regime found the books did not meet UNESCO’s standards for peace and tolerance.
by Eliana Schreiber
A new report analyzing Syrian school books found many references of hatred of other nations, and of Israel in particular.
The study of more than 50 children’s textbooks in the Assad-controlled regime found passages preaching jihad (holy war) to twelfth graders and proclaimed itself as a national leader of the Palestinian cause.
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“The Syrian curriculum includes good elements – mainly secularism, multi-cultural heritage, equality for women and encouragement of independent thinking and dialogue,” said co-author Eldad Pardo. “However, hate is widespread throughout the curriculum when it comes to radical pan-Arab nationalism, which considers the eradication of Israel an ideological mainstay.”
Syria’s greatest proclaimed enemy is Israel, which is not mentioned by name in any of the textbooks, only referred to as “The Zionist Entity.” Israeli territory is labeled as “Palestine” or “Occupied Palestine” and is included in Syria’s depiction of the greater “Arab Homeland.”
The report, released earlier this week by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) – a research institute that analyzes school books in relation to UNESCO-defined standards – is the first to analyze curriculum under Assad’s rule.
Violence and martyrdom are justified in children’s textbooks, and encouraged as part of the fight and resistance against the “occupied” Golan Heights.
“The rhetoric remains unchanged: Israel is a terrorist state and therefore all means are legitimate in the war against it, including terror and suicide attacks. In fact, even while the country fights a battle of life and death in front of the nation’s children, antagonism to Israel remains a central tenet of the Syrian curriculum,” IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said.
