"Over our dead bodies." This has been the response of Hamas and Fatah officials to unconfirmed reports that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA] may include the Holocaust in the curriculum of schools that it operates in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Palestinians have even warned UNRWA against committing the "crime" of including the Holocaust in the curriculum, threatening to foil the reported plan.via hudson-ny.org
"UNRWA should implement the curriculum of the host countries," said Ziad Thabet, Deputy Minister of Education for the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. "We will prevent UNRWA from implementing any new curriculum without returning to the Ministry of Education."
Fatah representatives and media outlets have also come out against any attempt to educate young Palestinians about the Nazi crimes.I'd bet on UNRWA canceling the program and on the Obama administration and the Europeans continuing to fund the 'Palestinian Authority' anyway.
Fatah activist Salah al-Wadiyeh urged Palestinian leaders to "confront this plan and to stand united against it."
He said that teaching the Holocaust in Palestinian schools was a "Zionist plot aimed at brainwashing our children and instilling in them sympathy for their killers. They are trying to occupy our minds through this scheme."
Al-Wadiyeh said that the "Palestinians know, more than any other people, the history of their enemies and their lies and endless false claims."
The Palestinians are opposed to teaching the Holocaust in their schools because first, many believe it never took place, and second, they are afraid that it some young men and women might identify with the Jews' plight during World War II.
The Palestinians, like many other Arabs, have convinced themselves that the Holocaust is nothing but a "Zionist conspiracy" to justify the occupation of their lands.
