Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act
Bill: H.R.2374 | Sponsor: Rep. Sherman, Brad (D-CA)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act
This bill requires the Department of State to report on the curriculum used in schools in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority or located in Gaza and controlled by any other entity. Among other topics, the report must address (1) whether the materials used encourage violence or intolerance toward other nations or ethnic groups, (2) the steps the Palestinian Authority is taking to reform such materials, and (3) whether U.S. foreign assistance is used to fund the dissemination of the offending materials.
The State Department must make such reports publicly available.

To require the Secretary of State to submit annual reports reviewing 
  the educational material used by the Palestinian Authority, and for 
                            other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian 
Education Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 2016 and 2017, the Palestinian Authority published 
        modified curricula for school-aged children in grades 1 through 
        11.
            (2) Textbooks used by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the 
        West Bank and Gaza include graphics portraying violence against 
        Israeli soldiers, positive portrayals of individuals who have 
        committed attacks against citizens of Israel, and references to 
        Palestinian efforts to target the ``Zionists''.
            (3) PA textbooks are used at schools sponsored by the 
        United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) because UNRWA 
        schools use the textbooks of the host government.
            (4) On April 26, 2018, the Government Accountability Office 
        (GAO) published a report that found the following:
                    (A) Textbooks in PA schools feature inaccurate and 
                misleading maps of the region and include militaristic, 
                adversarial imagery and content that incite hatred.
                    (B) The Department of State raised with Palestinian 
                officials the objectionable content in textbooks, 
                including a specific math problem using the number of 
                Palestinian casualties in the First and Second 
                Intifadas.
                    (C) The United Nations Relief and Works Agency 
                (UNRWA), in its review of the textbooks, identified 
                content not aligned with United Nations values, the 
                majority of which content related to neutrality or bias 
                issues, including issues related to maps and references 
                to Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the Palestinian Authority has not 
sufficiently eliminated content and passages encouraging violence or 
intolerance toward other countries or ethnic groups from the curriculum 
used in their schools.

SEC. 4. REPORTS REQUIRED.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act and annually thereafter for two years in 
accordance with subsection (c), the Secretary of State shall submit to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and 
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report reviewing 
curriculum used in schools in areas controlled by the Palestinian 
Authority or located in Gaza and controlled by any other entity. Each 
such report shall include the following:
            (1) A determination of whether there is content or passages 
        encouraging violence or intolerance toward other countries or 
        ethnic groups in such curriculum, and a detailed explanation of 
        the reasons for reaching such determination.
            (2) An assessment of the steps the Palestinian Authority is 
        taking to reform such curriculum at schools to conform with 
        standards of peace and tolerance in the Declaration of 
        Principles on Tolerance by the United Nations Educational, 
        Scientific and Cultural Organization (adopted November 16, 
        1995).
            (3) A determination whether United States foreign 
        assistance is used, directly or indirectly, to fund the 
        dissemination of such curriculum by the Palestinian Authority.
            (4) A detailed report on how United States assistance is 
        being used to address curriculum that encourages violence or 
        intolerance toward other nations or ethnic groups.
            (5) A detailed report about United States diplomatic 
        efforts in the preceding five years to encourage peace and 
        tolerance in Palestinian education.
            (6) If any diplomatic efforts referred to in paragraph (5) 
        were stopped by the Secretary of State, the reasons for such 
        stoppages.
    (b) Public Availability.--The Secretary of State shall post on a 
publicly available website of the Department of State each report 
required under subsection (a).
    (c) Subsequent Deadlines.--Each report required by subsection (a), 
other than the first such report, shall be submitted not later than 90 
days after the date on which a new school year begins for schools 
controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
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