In a letter dated 25 March addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, S&D President Iratxe García Pérez, Greens/EFA Co-President Philippe Lamberts and The Left Co-Presidents Manon Aubry and Martin Schirdewan underlined their concerns about a European Commission initiative that would, in their view, make the payment of €30 million per year of EU financial aid to the Palestinian Authority to be conditional on the adjustment of the content of Palestinian school textbooks.
There are allegations that some school books contain words invoking antisemitism, racism or incitement to hatred and violence. But a study by the Georg Eckert Institute in June 2021, requested by the European Commission, concluded that Palestinian textbooks met UNESCO standards, while identifying some exceptions that needed improvement.
While condemning all acts of antisemitism, racism or incitement to violence or hatred, MEPs expressed their firm belief that such an initiative and decision by the Commission - “based on unfair allegations” - would only be “counterproductive and create unnecessary tensions” among EU institutions, recalling that the European Parliament and the EU Council were against such a measure.
In their view, depriving the Palestinian Authority of financial assets aimed at funding teachers’ salaries would not only have a negative impact on the right to education of Palestinian youth, but could also be counterproductive, by opening up new opportunities for extremist groups.
The Commission’s spokesperson, Eric Mamer, announced on Tuesday 29 March that the subject would not be on the college’s agenda on Wednesday. An EU spokesperson reminded EUROPE that the EU does not finance textbooks, but supports the Palestinian education sector and reiterated the EU’s unequivocal commitment to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority to promote full compliance of its educational material with UNESCO standards.
See the MEPs’ letter: https://aeur.eu/f/10r (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)