A European Union report on the Palestinian Authority's education system examined textbooks that were never taught in PA schools, Israel Hayom has ascertained.
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The EU study, which was conducted by the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Germany, examined 156 textbooks that were received by the EU and represent around one-half of all PA textbooks. The study was concluded in 2020 and was to be published shortly after, but then the EU sought to include another 18 textbooks in the study, claiming they were being taught in Palestinian schools in that school year. Although adding new material to a study after it has been completed deviates from customary practice, the Georg Eckert Institute incorporated the new content into its research but issued a full disclosure that the 18 textbooks in question were added belatedly. In its footnotes on four of the textbooks, researchers noted they had been unable to locate the books in the PA education system's digital library. "The version the PA received from the EU was not online," they said.
That the textbooks were forced into the study after it had already been completed, the very fact that they were received from the EU, and their absence from the official PA portal, raised the question of whether they were being used at all in PA schools. The surprising answer: They were not being used. The Georg Eckert Institute, responding to Israel Hayom's inquiry on the matter, said: "At the request of the EU, 18 textbooks for the 2020-2021 school year were analyzed after the first part of the study was completed (partially), before their introduction in [PA] schools." In other words, the EU and the Georg Eckert Institute treated the textbooks as if they were being taught in Palestinian schools, prior to the fact.
Marcus Sheff, the CEO of IMPACT-se, an international research and policy institute that analyzes school textbooks throughout the world and has a proven track record of examining PA textbooks, told Israel Hayom in the wake of the revelation that "there's no reason for textbooks that never saw the light of day to be included in a report on textbooks that are actually being taught. Using these 'ghost books' raised many questions about the credibility of the findings, and it appears there was an attempt to shoot the arrow and then run to mark the target."
It should be noted that the belated chapter of the study, which analyzed the 18 new textbooks, concluded that the Palestinians were trying to reduce incitement and antisemitism in their schools – a conclusion that allows them to continue receiving funding from the EU for their education system.
Chief Operating Officer of IMPACT-se Arik Agassi added that the study's findings also contradict themselves. According to Agassi, the Palestinian textbooks don't meet the criteria established by UNESCO, which the Georg Eckert Institute essentially concedes.
"In the body of the study, it was stated several times that 'antisemitism and glorification of violence exist' in relation to Jews and Israel and that this content was 'incompatible with UNESCO's criteria.' But these findings were obscured in the report's conclusions and were especially absent from the executive summary. The Georg Eckert Institute is aware of this contradiction and in the FAQ section, which it published last week, it essentially admitted there's an issue here. Indeed, our conclusion, as an organization that has researched Palestinian textbooks for many years, is that they don't meet UNESCO's standards," said Agassi.
The EU said in a statement: "The educational reform [that began] in the Palestinian Authority in 2016-2017 is part of an ongoing process. Due to delays in the research, the EU asked the Georg Eckert Institute to include a survey of the textbooks that would be published in 2020. At the time of the report's completion, 15 out of 18 of the textbooks that were analyzed were online, as detailed in the report."
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