Palestinian Media Watch - NEWS UPDATE Impact of report on Palestinian School Books EU money to be denied for PA schoolbooks
(Jerusalem Post Nov 2, 2001)

Background:
The report on Palestinian school textbooks written by PMW staff for CMIP continues to have significant influence on international policy toward the PA. It continues to affect the international standing of the Palestinian Authority, as indicated by yesterday´s decision by the European Union to withhold funding of the PA school books.

[In related news, as part of the on going effort to create public pressure on the PA to educate for peace, PMW director, Itamar Marcus, met in British Parliament this week with some Labour MPs and presented an overview detailing the precise problems with the Palestinian school books and media.]

The following is the news report on the EU decision to stop funding PA school books:

Jerusalem Post Nov 2, 2001
EU money to be denied for PA schoolbooks By Herb Keinon JERUSALEM (November 2) - A group of pro-Israeli members of the European Parliament attached a rider to an EU budget line this week saying EU money must not be provided for Palestinian textbooks if they contain material that is anti-Semitic or incites hatred.

Foreign Ministry acting spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said this is the most significant victory yet in the battle against funding Palestinian Authority textbooks that includes incitement against Israel.

The budget line, B7-42, allocates some 45 million euros for programs to promote the peace process in the Middle East, money which has in the past been used for Palestinian textbooks and other educational activities in the PA.

The amendment to the budget line reads this money must not be "for activities, projects, and programs that promote principles or opinions that are not consistent with the basic values of the European Union. On the contrary, this money is to be used only for projects that support peace, understanding, reconciliation, and a decrease of hate."

In an explanatory note accompanying the rider, it was written it is forbidden for the EU to support text books that include racism and anti-Semitism, and that the European Commission must ensure that the money is not being used for publishing textbooks that contradict basic European values.

The European Parliament is the body that approves the EU´s massive budget, and is the one function that gives the parliament any real power.

Nahshon said the passage of this amendment is a "small step but a moral victory," and he hopes this will serve as a precedent for other European countries who provide money to the PA educational apparatus via bilateral ties.

Nahshon said the passage of this amendment was the result of intensive diplomatic activity by Israel´s mission to the EU in Brussels, and the work of a number of European Parliament members determined to fight incitement and anti-Semitism in the Palestinian textbooks. (IMRA.ORG.IL 11/04/01)