Folks, there is no end to Palestinian propaganda: now, the new Palestinian Authority history books, among other things, present the infamous anti-Semitic forgery produced by Russian police The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as an accurate portrayal of the decision of the First Zionist Congress.
“There is continued incitement in the PA and it has even intensified, surpassing and solidifying the anti-Semitic line that has been recognized there in recent years,” Minister Natan Sharansky, who sent the information to Sharon, said.
Arutz-7’s Ruti Avraham reports that Sharansky, who is Minister of Diaspora, Society and Jerusalem, contacted the Prime Minister after he received copies of the newly published PA text book that presents, for the first time, the Protocols as “historic fact and the secret decision of the First Zionist Congress.”
According to Sharansky, nowhere in the PA History book does it mention that the Protocols are in fact a forgery. “The exact opposite, the matter is presented in the introduction regarding the First Zionist Congress in Basle [Switzerland], which took place in 1897, and the book goes on to claim that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are the decisions of that Congress.”
The book in question is a 10th grade History book called, “History of Modern and Contemporary World, Grade 10 (2004). The section cited by Minister Sharansky appears on page 63 of the book, which is already in use in PA schools.
“The presentation of the Protocols in a false manner is particularly severe due to the fact that it has seen renewed popularity, with new editions of the book widely printed in Syria and Egypt and available in book stores and on the internet throughout the Muslim world in recent months,” Sharansky said.
Minister Sharansky’s urgent communiquי to Prime Minister Sharon came after he received the translations of the textbooks from the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (CMIP), an organization that seeks to identify what is being taught in schools with regard to recognition and acceptance of the “other”. CMIP has produced four reports on school books in the Palestinian Authority and will finish a report on textbooks for grades 5 and 6 shortly. According to the reports, in more than 160 school books produced by the PA, Israel is never mentioned as a sovereign state and maps appearing in the books do not include the State of Israel.
“There is no doubt that this information is demonstrative of the fact that the Palestinian leadership is not demonstrating the necessary willingness to end incitement and change the threatening tone between our nations,” Sharansky wrote to PM Sharon. “More than that, there is an intensifying of the incitement that seeks to raise the level of anti-Semitism past that which has been present for years.”
“Real progress in the peace process is not possible while incitement continues to be spread through text books, especially when it is intensified in the new books just introduced into the system. It is important that our friend President Bush, who in my last meeting with him expressed particular interest in everything connected to education in the PA, receive this information during your current meeting.”
No mention of the anti-Semitic textbooks was made during the press conference following the Bush-Sharon meeting today. Sharansky hopes, though, that the issue, which has in the past outraged the US Congress and resulted in legislation limiting funding to the PA, will convince Bush that the PA is not living up to its promises.