II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3280

To prohibit assistance to the Palestinian Authority unless and until certain

conditions are met.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

DECEMBER 15 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Mr. SPECTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To prohibit assistance to the Palestinian Authority unless

and until certain conditions are met.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

4 Congress makes the following findings:

5 (1) Today in the West Bank and Gaza, text6 books used in Palestinian schools are teaching ha7 tred towards Jews and the incitement towards vio8 lence.

9 (2) Article XXII of the Israeli-Palestinian In10 terim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza
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1 Strip of 1995 declares that Israel and the Pales2 tinian Authority will ‘‘ensure that their respective

3 educational systems contribute to the peace between

4 the Israeli and Palestinian peoples and to peace in

5 the entire region, and will refrain from the introduc6 tion of any motifs that could adversely affect the

7 process of reconciliation’’.

8 (3) As a result of the Oslo Accords, the respon9 sibility for education in the West Bank and Gaza

10 was transferred from the Government of Israel to

11 the Palestinian Ministry of Education.

12 (4) Since the early 1950s, Palestinian schools

13 in the West Bank have used Jordanian textbooks

14 and the schools in Gaza used Egyptian textbooks,

15 but when these areas were under the control of the

16 Israeli government, anti-Semitic and anti-Israel con17 tent was removed from the school books.

18 (5) While beginning to develop their own cur19 riculum, the Palestinian Ministry of Education con20 tinued to use Egyptian and Jordanian books, but

21 failed to remove the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic con22 tent.

23 (6) The Palestinian Ministry of Education di24 rectly supervised the production of new textbooks
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1 which are now used in schools in the West Bank and

2 Gaza.

3 (7) The new textbooks contain anti-Semitic and

4 anti-Israel content, and the Israeli government no

5 longer has the authority to change the content of the

6 textbooks.

7 (8) Palestinian Authority school children are

8 actively taught that the Jews and Israel are the

9 enemy in a broad range of contexts, and for exam10 ple, page 79 of the Islamic Education for Ninth

11 Grade reads, ‘‘One must beware of the Jews, for

12 they are treacherous and disloyal’’.

13 (9) The Islamic Education for Ninth Grade also

14 instructs that ‘‘one must beware of civil war which

15 the Jews try to incite, scheming against the Mus16 lims,’’ on page 94.

17 (10) On page 182, the text of the Islamic Edu18 cation for Ninth Grade reads ‘‘The Jews . . . have

19 killed and evicted Muslim and Christian inhabitants

20 of Palestine, whose inhabitants are still suffering op21 pression and persecution under racist Jewish admin22 istration.’’

23 (11) The Islamic Religious Education for the

24 Fourth Grade teaches students on page 44, ‘‘ . . .
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1 the Jews—as is their way—do not want people to

2 live in peace.’’

3 (12) The books include lessons equating Zion4 ism with Nazism, Fascism, and racism, and for ex5 ample, The Contemporary History of Arabs and the

6 World, on page 123, states ‘‘The clearest examples

7 of racist belief and racial discrimination in the world

8 are Nazism and Zionism.’’

9 (13) Islamic Education for the Fourth Grade

10 teaches children ‘‘the Jews are the enemies’’ on page

11 67.

12 (14) The new textbooks do not acknowledge the

13 State of Israel, but rather the creation of Israel is

14 explained as the Israeli occupation of 1948.

15 (15) All the maps of ‘‘Palestine’’, be they polit16 ical, historical, geographical, or natural resource

17 maps in the textbooks, erase mention of Israel.

18 (16) The calls to fight and eliminate Israel

19 through Jihad (Holy War) and Martyrdom for

20 Allah, appear frequently in the school books.

21 (17) In addition there is a separate recurring

22 theme: the children are taught to fight and conquer

23 Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, and for example, the

24 book Islamic Education for Seventh Grade asks:

25 ‘‘How are we going to liberate our stolen land? Make
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1 use of the following ideas: Arab unity, genuine faith

2 in Allah, most modern weapons and ammunition,

3 using oil and other precious natural resources as

4 weapons in the battle for liberation’’ on page 15.

5 (18) The need to fight Israel, all of which is

6 said to be on ‘‘occupied Arab land’’ becomes a reli7 gious imperative, with teachings like the following

8 from Islamic Education for Seventh Grade, page

9 108: ‘‘if the enemy has conquered part of its land

10 and those fighting for it are unable to repel the

11 enemy, then Jihad becomes the individual religious

12 duty of every Muslim man and woman, until the at13 tack is successfully repulsed and the land liberated

14 from conquest and to defend Muslim honor . . .’’.

15 (19) The same message appears in the fifth

16 grade text Our Arabic Language for Fifth Grade on

17 pages 69 and 70, ‘‘there will be a Jihad and our

18 country shall be freed. This is our story with the

19 thieving conquerors. You must know, my boy, that

20 Palestine is your grave responsibility.’’

21 (20) Children are specifically taught to protect

22 all mosques, and for example, Islamic Education for

23 the Seventh Grade instructs students that ‘‘they

24 must devote all their efforts and resources to repair25 ing them and to protecting them and must wage a
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1 Jihad both of life and property to liberate al-Aqsa

2 Mosque from the Zionist conquest’’ on page 184.

3 (21) Palestinian Authority Television is under

4 direct control of the Palestinian Authority.

5 (22) The same hateful portrayal of Jews and

6 Israel found in the school books is promoted regu7 larly on Palestinian television, and for example, on

8 May 14, 1998, Palestinian television broadcast state9 ments such as ‘‘The Jewish gangs waged racial

10 cleansing wars against innocent Palestinians . . .

11 large scale appalling massacres saving no women or

12 children’’.

13 (23) Also, radio and television broadcasts made

14 by publicly funded facilities in the Palestinian Au15 thority-controlled areas of the West Bank and Gaza

16 include programs having an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel

17 content.

18 (24) On May 14, 1998, on Palestinian Tele19 vision Zionism was presented as ‘‘a cancer in the

20 body of the nation.’’

21 (25) The Palestinian Television also refuses to

22 acknowledge the state of Israel, and broadcast in

23 May 1998, ‘‘the war of 1948 brought about the es24 tablishment of the Zionist entity on Palestinian

25 land.’’
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1 (26) The message of Jihad is also conveyed on

2 the Palestinian Television, and for example, the

3 broadcasts declared in May 1998, ‘‘This is our Pal4 estine. We defend it with blood.’’

5 (27) While the United States has not given aid

6 directly to the Palestinian Authority since 1995, in

7 fiscal year 2000 the United States allocated $485

8 million in development assistance to non-govern9 mental organizations working in the West Bank and

10 Gaza, including funds for education programs.

11 (28) Between 1995 and 1998 international aid

12 provided by 21 countries and 4 international organi13 zations provided $226.9 million to educational

14 projects in the Palestinian Territories.

15 (29) From 1994 to 1999, the European Com16 munity committed over $600 million in assistance to

17 the Palestinian Territories, including funds for edu18 cation programs.

19 SEC. 2. RESTRICTION ON ASSISTANCE.

20 (a) RESTRICTION.—No assistance shall be provided

21 to the Palestinian Authority unless and until the President

22 certifies to Congress that the Palestinian Authority has

23 removed the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel content included in

24 the textbooks used in schools, and radio and television

25 broadcasts made by publicly funded facilities, in the Pales-
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1 tinian Authority-controlled areas of the West Bank and

2 Gaza.

3 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that the President should urge allies of the United

5 States to apply an equivalent restriction on assistance as

6 described in subsection (a).

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