WRITTEN QUESTION P-3643/00 by Rijk van Dam (EDD) to the Commission. European assistance for publication of Palestinian school textbooks.
Date: 2000-11-17
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, Palestine, antisemitism, educational system, school textbook

6.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 163 E/181

2. What steps have been taken to monitor the proper allocation of funds and to what extent, if any, have
EU officials or representatives of the Member States been associated with the drafting of school
curricula?

3.

Is such aid conditional upon observance by the beneficiaries of fundamental rights as well as the Oslo
and Camp David agreements?

The Commission is asked to answer these questions in detail and with due urgency.

(cid:129) Teaching handbook (cid:145)Contemporary history of Arabs and the World(cid:146), pp. 12, 13, 152 and 155.

(cid:129) (cid:145)Contemporary history of Arabs and the World(cid:146), pp. 92, 123, 120, 121, 123.

(cid:129) (cid:145)Arab modern history and contemporary issues(cid:146), second part, tenth level, pp. 48, 49, 50.

(cid:129) (cid:145)Literary texts(cid:146), eighth level, pp. 97, 103.

(cid:129) (cid:145)Palestinian national education(cid:146), third level, pp. 14, 15, 23.

(cid:129) (cid:145)Our Arab language(cid:146), fifth level, pp. 64, 66, 67, 69, 70.

(cid:129) Teaching handbook (cid:145)Our Arab language(cid:146), second level, p. 188.

(cid:129) (cid:145)Islamic education(cid:146), ninth level, pp. 78, 79, 87, 181, 182.

(cid:129) (cid:145)Islamic education(cid:146), fourth level, second part, p. 67.

(cid:129) (cid:145)Islamic education(cid:146), seventh level, pp. 108, 125.

(2001/C 163 E/206)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3643/00

by Rijk van Dam (EDD) to the Commission

(17 November 2000)

Subject: European assistance for publication of Palestinian school textbooks

The Palestinian Authority has been able to publish its own teaching materials for the first time. Publication
has been made possible by assistance from the European Union and applies to textbooks for the first and
sixth grades (children in age groups 6-7 and 11-12). The Italian consul, Gianni Ghisi, was responsible for
organising European assistance. Despite an agreement that the consul would examine the text of the books
before publication, he was not allowed to inspect them. The books contain anti-Semitic texts. The history
and geography books contain maps that represent the whole of Israel as Palestine and a number of
passages that call on Palestinian children to liberate all of Jerusalem and all of Palestine.

How has the Commission responded to the Palestinian Authority for having broken an agreement by
failing to allow the text of the books to be inspected before publication?

Does the Commission not consider that it must insist on the anti-Semitic passages being removed from the
books?

What action has the Commission taken to prevent a repeat of this situation, and is it prepared to allow
agreements to be broken, or will any assistance payments made in such cases be claimed back?

(2001/C 163 E/207)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3652/00

by Olivier Dupuis (TDI) to the Commission

(23 November 2000)

Subject: EU funding of the Palestinian media

Part of the funding that the EU grants to the Palestinian Authority is intended to finance the Palestinian
media. These funds are intended to contribute to the creation of an open and plural information system