Text part of new curriculum, which is expected to be introduced into the Gaza Strip schools next academic year.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHPalestinian schoolchildren (R370)(photo credit: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman)
Hamas has begun preparing new school textbooks that teach children about “plans to liberate Palestine and the legitimacy and various forms of resistance [against Israel].” Jamal Abu Hashem, advisor to the Hamas-controlled education ministry, said new books would be introduced as part of National Education Studies for grades 8-10.Abu Hashem was speaking during a workshop in Gaza City that was attended by senior officials of the education ministry and experts from a number of universities. His statements were published by several Hamas websites.Some of the new books will refer to the geographical significance of Palestine and its religious, strategic and security status, the Hamas official said. The books will also teach children about Jaffa, Jericho, Acre, Rafah, Nablus, Hebron, Jerusalem and Beersheba, he added.The children will study the history and background of prominent Palestinian figures such as PLO founder Ahmed Shukairi, his successor, Yasser Arafat and slain Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin.The new curriculum, which is expected to be introduced into the Gaza Strip schools next academic year, will also refer to the “Zionist project and ambitions, the Balfour Declaration, the 1948 Nakba and massacres, the 1956, 1967 and 1973 wars,” according to the Hamas official.One teaching unit, he said, will talk about the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees and the “project to liberate Palestine, including the issue of resistance and its legitimacy, and various forms.”The new books will teach children about the Palestinian “resistance” groups such as Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
