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 Au-
thority 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 ur-
gent need to promote moderate voices in the Muslim 
world as an effective way to combat extremism and ter-
rorism; 
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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 di-
plomacy measures, including education reform, as nec-
essary steps in addressing the global struggle against ter-
rorism 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 threat-
ens 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 advo-
cates 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 edu-
cation system that promote and encourage extremism; 
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•HCON 194 IH 
Whereas textbooks in Saudi Arabian schools foster intoler-
ance, 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 in-
spired to commit jihad in the name of Islam; 
Whereas rote exclusive memorization of religious texts con-
tinues 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 impris-
oned 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 indi-
vidual, and respect for different beliefs is a key element 
in any global strategy to eliminate Islamist terrorism.’’; 
Whereas the United States Commission on International Reli-
gious Freedom has reported that Saudi Arabian Govern-
ment-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 cre-
dentials in an effort to curb the spread of inciteful, ex-
tremist 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 Con-
gress), which encouraged Saudi Arabia to reform its edu-
cational 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 hos-
tile propaganda against each other and shall take nec-
essary measures to prevent such incitement by any orga-
nizations, groups or individuals within their jurisdic-
tion.’’; 
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 insti-
tutions to end all forms of violence and incitement; 
Whereas despite the Palestinian Authority’s recognition of 
Israel in the Oslo Agreement, Israel is virtually non-
existent 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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•HCON 194 IH 
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 hu-
manitarian 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 intoler-
ance; 
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 ter-
ror; and 
Whereas the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to recognize 
Israel in Palestinian textbooks, and its continual applica-
tion of inciteful, intolerant dialogue in the textbooks 
raises questions about its desire for peaceful relations 
with Israel: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That the Congress— 
(1) expresses extreme disappointment with the 
slow pace of education reform in the Kingdom of 
Saudi Arabia and the sense that continual delay of 
reform implementations should not be accepted; 
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•HCON 194 IH 
(2) urges Saudi Arabia to reform its textbooks 
and education curriculum in a manner that pro-
motes tolerance and peaceful coexistence with others, 
develops civil society, and encourages functionality in 
the global economy; 
(3) urges Saudi Arabia to increase the number 
of hours spent on fundamental disciplines such as 
math, science and the humanities in relation to the 
number of hours spent on religious education in 
schools; 
(4) requests the Secretary of State to monitor 
the progress of the efforts to reform the Saudi edu-
cation curriculum, and report on such progress, in 
classified form if necessary, to Congress; 
(5) encourages moderate Muslim leaders to 
speak out against any elements of extremism within 
the Saudi educational system; 
(6) urges Saudi Arabia to cease teaching 
Wahhabism and instead find an alternate, more be-
nign form of Islamic teaching, that promotes toler-
ance and acceptance; 
(7) urges Saudi Arabia to immediately reform 
the curriculum which Saudi embassies are distrib-
uting internationally, specifically the textbooks which 
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•HCON 194 IH 
the embassies are distributing to Saudi schools, in-
cluding those within the United States; 
(8) urges the Palestinian Authority to remove 
any inciteful dialogue about martyrdom and jihad 
from textbooks, and to remove any anti-Semitic ref-
erences or passages from their textbooks; 
(9) urges the Palestinian Authority to officially 
recognize and accept Israel in maps and educational 
texts, and to include dialogue which promotes peace-
ful and tolerant relations with Israel in their text-
books; 
(10) expresses the need for the Palestinian Au-
thority to implement the necessary education re-
forms, and the sense that such reforms would ulti-
mately allow a lasting peace with Israel to finally be 
achieved; and 
(11) expresses the sense that educational re-
forms in Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority 
are a necessary step in the global struggle against 
terrorism. 
Æ 
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