Palestinian Authority Textbooks do not help the peace process

Governor Schwarzenegger recently vetoed SB1437. If passed the proposed legislation would have enabled the State Board of Education and local school districts to adopt textbooks and instructional materials for our public schools to include sexual orientation.
Point being that we are concerned as to what materials are children are being exposed to in the classroom. Thousands of Californians contacted the governor seeking his veto and he reacted accordingly.

Let me now shift gears. For decades we have tried to find a peaceful solution to the struggles in the Middle East between Jews and Arabs. Let’s get to the root cause of the problem. How can you explain this Hatfied Vs McCoy ongoing fighting.
Perhaps we should look at the Arab student textbooks in the Palestinian Authority classes inside Israel to get some insight.
I have several booklets that may contain part of the answer. Let me share from a booklet dated May 2003 published by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace CMIP entitled “Jews, Israel and Peace in the Palestinian Authority Textbooks.”
“The new Textbooks for Grades 3 and 8.”

Their 62 page report is based on evaluation of 35 school textbooks published by the Palestinian Authority and on criteria established by UNESCO and CMIP.

You need to stop and ask yourselves some basic questions. Where, when, why and how did this hatred begin? Years before the terrorist activities in Iraq we heard of little Arab children being used as human bombers in Israel blowing themselves up in the town marketplace or on school busses.

Without sharing the content of the book, as I seek permission to do so, let me simply say that chapter 10 covers Jihad and Martyrdom. Chapter 11 covers Terrorism. Is that what we should be teaching our eighth graders? Is this the prelude to peaceful coexistence?
Our friends in the State Department are kidding themselves. Based on what their children are being taught in the classroom the Arabs do not wish to acknowledge the sovereign Nation of Israel. Period.
Larry Gilbert

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