IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 194 

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the failure of the Kingdom 

of Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority to properly implement 

education reforms aimed at reducing the cultural roots of terrorism. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 26, 2007 

Mr. KING of New York submitted the following concurrent resolution; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the failure of 

the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority to properly implement education reforms aimed 

at reducing the cultural roots of terrorism. 

Whereas the curriculum in many countries in the Middle 

East continues to promote hatred, intolerance, violence, 

incitement, so-called ‘‘martyrdom’’, and anti-Semitic and 

anti-democratic views; 

Whereas the events of September 11, 2001, and the global 

rash of terrorist attacks since then, have created an urgent need to promote moderate voices in the Muslim 

world as an effective way to combat extremism and terrorism; 


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•HCON 194 IH 

Whereas the Final Report of the National Commission on 

Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 

Commission report) supports the implementation of diplomacy measures, including education reform, as necessary steps in addressing the global struggle against terrorism and the promotion of democracy in the Middle 

East; 

Whereas extremism endangers the stability of the Kingdom 

of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region, and threatens global security; 

Whereas Wahhabism—as it is taught and presented in the 

documents of its ideologues, cadres and supporters—is a 

radical and fundamentalist Islamist ideology which advocates a narrow and rigid interpretation of Quranic texts 

and divides the world between believers and nonbelievers 

(including Muslim non-Wahhabists), who are seen as the 

enemy and those to be dealt with through ‘‘jihad’’; 

Whereas the religious curriculum in the Saudi school system 

is written, monitored, and taught by followers of the 

Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, the only religion Saudi 

Arabia allows to be taught; 

Whereas Saudi Wahhabism is seeking to spread its extremist 

ideology throughout the world and to influence Muslim 

education globally; 

Whereas Saudi embassies in the United States and abroad 

distribute the Wahhabi-inspired textbooks that are taught 

in Saudi schools; 

Whereas Saudi Arabia has tolerated elements within its education system that promote and encourage extremism; 


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•HCON 194 IH 

Whereas textbooks in Saudi Arabian schools foster intolerance, anti-Semitic, anti-American, and anti-Western 

views; 

Whereas Saudi Arabian textbooks express the Wahhabi dual 

vision of the world, the idea that anyone who does not 

practice Wahhabi Islam is the ‘‘other’’ and should be 

viewed as the enemy, and such a doctrine, describing all 

non Wahhabis as Kuffars (infidels) is predominant in the 

educational public sphere; 

Whereas the intolerant Wahhabi views instilled in students 

make them prime recruiting targets of terrorists and 

other extremist groups; 

Whereas as long as Wahhabism is being taught in schools, 

Saudi children will be indoctrinated into terror and inspired to commit jihad in the name of Islam; 

Whereas rote exclusive memorization of religious texts continues to be a central feature of much of the educational 

system of Saudi Arabia, leaving thousands of students 

unprepared to function in the global society and economy 

of the 21st century; 

Whereas the Government of Saudi Arabia has made public 

statements pledging educational reforms; 

Whereas Saudi Arabia has now admitted that the necessary 

educational reforms have not yet been implemented; 

Whereas if the reform process is not accelerated, the Saudi 

educational system could produce another generation of 

jihadi inspired terrorists; 

Whereas several Saudi intellectuals have come out in favor of 

reforms and tried to pressure the monarchy to reform the 

educational system; 


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•HCON 194 IH 

Whereas in March 2004, Saudi Arabia detained and imprisoned several democratic reformers for criticizing the 

strict religious environment and the slow pace of reform 

in Saudi Arabia; 

Whereas the 9/11 Commission report states, ‘‘Education that 

teaches tolerance, the dignity and value of each individual, and respect for different beliefs is a key element 

in any global strategy to eliminate Islamist terrorism.’’; 

Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has reported that Saudi Arabian Government-funded textbooks used both in Saudi Arabia and 

also in North American Islamic schools and mosques 

have been found to encourage incitement to violence 

against non-Muslims; 

Whereas a report released on January 28, 2005, by Freedom 

House’s Center for Religious Freedom found that Saudi 

Arabia is the state most responsible for the propagation 

of material promoting hatred, intolerance, and violence 

within United States mosques and Islamic centers, and 

that these publications are often official publications of a 

Saudi ministry or distributed by the Embassy of Saudi 

Arabia in Washington, DC; 

Whereas the Department of State has revoked the diplomatic 

visas of at least sixteen people with Saudi diplomatic credentials in an effort to curb the spread of inciteful, extremist Wahhabi rhetoric and doctrine in United States 

schools and mosques; 

Whereas in 2006 the United States House of Representatives 

adopted House Concurrent Resolution 275 (109th Congress), which encouraged Saudi Arabia to reform its educational curriculum; 


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•HCON 194 IH 

Whereas education reform in the Palestinian Authority must 

take place before any lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace will 

ever be achieved, and for a true democracy to flourish in 

a future Palestinian state; 

Whereas the 1993 Declaration of Principles, which laid the 

foundation for the 1995 Oslo II Agreement, specifically 

provides that ‘‘Israel and the Palestinian Authority shall 

seek to foster mutual understanding and tolerance and 

shall accordingly abstain from incitement, including hostile propaganda against each other and shall take necessary measures to prevent such incitement by any organizations, groups or individuals within their jurisdiction.’’; 

Whereas phase I of the ‘‘Performance-Based Roadmap to a 

permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian 

Conflict’’ calls on all official Palestinian and Israeli institutions to end all forms of violence and incitement; 

Whereas despite the Palestinian Authority’s recognition of 

Israel in the Oslo Agreement, Israel is virtually nonexistent in texts, graphics, and illustrations distributed 

by the Palestinian Authority; 

Whereas Palestinian textbooks continue to reject Israel’s 

right to exist and assert that the conflict with Israel is 

a religious jihad in the name of Islam; 

Whereas textbooks distributed by the Palestinian Authority 

affirm the significance of martyrdom (in the sense of 

Istishaad, or militant suicide) and how important the 

honor of becoming a martyr is; 

Whereas textbooks distributed by the Palestinian Authority 

encourage students to kill Israeli military and civilians as 

part of an Islamic holy war; 


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Whereas not only do Palestinian textbooks justify Palestinian 

use of terrorism against Israel, they also justify 

Hezbollah’s terrorist activities and claim that it is a 

‘‘rightful resistance movement’’; 

Whereas textbooks distributed by the Palestinian authority 

contain anti-American rhetoric that portrays the United 

States as an enemy of the Palestinians and the greater 

Arab world, and teaches that the United States is a 

human rights abuser and a violator of international humanitarian law, hence encouraging violence against the 

United States; 

Whereas the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly produced 

new educational textbooks for their curriculum, yet many 

contain the same messages of anti-Semitism and intolerance; 

Whereas if education reforms are not implemented by the 

Palestinian Authority, a new generation of Palestinians 

will be indoctrinated with the message of hatred and terror; and 

Whereas the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to recognize 

Israel in Palestinian textbooks, and its continual application of inciteful, intolerant dialogue in the textbooks 

raises questions about its desire for peaceful relations 

with Israel: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That the Congress— 

3 (1) expresses extreme disappointment with the 

4 slow pace of education reform in the Kingdom of 

5 Saudi Arabia and the sense that continual delay of 

6 reform implementations should not be accepted; 


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1 (2) urges Saudi Arabia to reform its textbooks 

2 and education curriculum in a manner that pro3 motes tolerance and peaceful coexistence with others, 

4 develops civil society, and encourages functionality in 

5 the global economy; 

6 (3) urges Saudi Arabia to increase the number 

7 of hours spent on fundamental disciplines such as 

8 math, science and the humanities in relation to the 

9 number of hours spent on religious education in 

10 schools; 

11 (4) requests the Secretary of State to monitor 

12 the progress of the efforts to reform the Saudi edu13 cation curriculum, and report on such progress, in 

14 classified form if necessary, to Congress; 

15 (5) encourages moderate Muslim leaders to 

16 speak out against any elements of extremism within 

17 the Saudi educational system; 

18 (6) urges Saudi Arabia to cease teaching 

19 Wahhabism and instead find an alternate, more be20 nign form of Islamic teaching, that promotes toler21 ance and acceptance; 

22 (7) urges Saudi Arabia to immediately reform 

23 the curriculum which Saudi embassies are distrib24 uting internationally, specifically the textbooks which 


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1 the embassies are distributing to Saudi schools, in2 cluding those within the United States; 

3 (8) urges the Palestinian Authority to remove 

4 any inciteful dialogue about martyrdom and jihad 

5 from textbooks, and to remove any anti-Semitic ref6 erences or passages from their textbooks; 

7 (9) urges the Palestinian Authority to officially 

8 recognize and accept Israel in maps and educational 

9 texts, and to include dialogue which promotes peace10 ful and tolerant relations with Israel in their text11 books; 

12 (10) expresses the need for the Palestinian Au13 thority to implement the necessary education re14 forms, and the sense that such reforms would ulti15 mately allow a lasting peace with Israel to finally be 

16 achieved; and 

17 (11) expresses the sense that educational re18 forms in Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority 

19 are a necessary step in the global struggle against 

20 terrorism. 

Æ 


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