Peloni: A new year, but the same terrorist credo practiced, taught and supported in the PA.
European Governments Cite Zero Compliance as Gaza Schools Continue Using Inciting Textbooks.
By: David Bedein | The J.Ca | Feb 1, 2026
Jerusalem – The Palestinian Authority has failed to reform its education system despite repeated commitments to European donors, according to official European Union documents and national government reports spanning more than a decade. The findings raise serious questions about continued international funding for Palestinian education, particularly in Gaza, where schools continue to operate using jihadi textbooks under the guise of peace education.
The Palestinian curriculum is not merely an academic framework. It is the ideological foundation of the Authority itself and a core instrument for shaping national identity. From the Authority’s perspective, altering that curriculum would amount to redefining its political purpose. The Palestinian Authority is composed of non state militias, led primarily by Fatah, whose raison d’être remains total confrontation with Israel. Recognition of Israel or reconciliation undermines the political identity of the organizations that make up the Palestine Liberation Organization.
As a result, promises to reform the curriculum, even when made to donor states, are not technical commitments but political impossibilities. The curriculum reflects ideology, not neutral pedagogy.
Nevertheless, European funding to the Palestinian Authority was explicitly conditioned on educational reform.
Over the past several years, the European Union established four core requirements that the Palestinian Authority was expected to meet in exchange for continued financial assistance.
First, the EU demanded the removal of inciting and hateful content. This included ending the glorification of violence, demonization of Jews and Israelis, portrayal of violent struggle as the only solution, and the presentation of so called martyrs as role models.
Second, the EU required the presentation of accurate maps. These maps were to include the State of Israel, use the 1967 lines as a recognized boundary, and end depictions of a Palestine stretching from the river to the sea.
Third, the EU called for an end to the glorification of martyrs in educational materials. This included removing songs, stories, and exercises praising those killed while attacking Israelis, eliminating math problems based on casualty or prisoner numbers, and halting the presentation of death for the homeland as an educational value.
Fourth, the EU demanded the introduction of peace education. This was to include content promoting coexistence, mutual recognition, peaceful conflict resolution, and the presentation of the Israeli narrative alongside the Palestinian one, in alignment with UNESCO standards.
According to every European and international assessment conducted between 2020 and 2025, none of these requirements were met. Inciting content was not removed. Maps including Israel were not introduced. Glorification of martyrs did not cease. Peace education content was not added. In some cases, new textbooks further radicalized the material.
This assessment is reflected in a series of official European decisions.
In a European Parliament resolution adopted on May 11, 2023, lawmakers stated that problematic content had not been removed despite prior commitments and that no significant changes had been made to the curriculum.
The European Parliament Discharge Report for 2022 and 2023 concluded that the Palestinian Authority failed to meet its commitments and warned that stricter funding conditions would be examined.
On May 7, 2025, the European Parliament voted to freeze funding until inciting content was removed, determining that the Authority promised reforms but introduced a new curriculum that continued to encourage violence.
National governments echoed these findings. A German Foreign Ministry evaluation covering 2022 through 2024 concluded that promised reforms were not implemented and that new textbooks did not meet UNESCO standards. The Dutch parliament stated in 2024 that changes were promised but never implemented and announced it would not fund education that fails to align with European values. Austria’s foreign minister expressed deep disappointment in 2024 over the Authority’s failure to uphold its commitments. A Norwegian government report issued by NORAD in 2024 reached the same conclusion.
Despite these findings, Mahmoud Abbas publicly claimed that a delegation had been sent to UNESCO to review the Palestinian curriculum. UNESCO later confirmed that no such delegation ever arrived.
In recent weeks, European and German officials acknowledged authorizing funds for new Gaza schools based on the assumption that UNESCO had met with Abbas and approved the curriculum. Abbas’s office later confirmed that UNESCO never held such a meeting.
Our agency maintains the only Israeli news organization with a reporting crew inside Gaza schools. Due to Israeli policy restrictions, no Israeli journalists are permitted to enter Gaza. We therefore employ local Gaza-based crews. Our reporters confirm that the old jihadi textbooks remain in use and that UNRWA teachers continue to control the new schools.
European funding has continued under the premise of reform that never occurred. The gap between declarations and reality is total and is documented in official EU resolutions, parliamentary reports, and national government evaluations.
Despite new rhetoric emerging from international forums, including references to stabilization policies and peace councils, Gaza schools remain governed by an ideology of jihad, not coexistence.
David has been working on the subject for decades now and knows his stuff.
There will be no change in PA policy as long as the money continues to flow in spite of the demands to change the curriculum. This is par for the course: promise as required. When it comes to fulfilling the promises, don’t even try; just invent excuses. The same is true for each and any promise. Promises are cheap. Not fulfilling them is even cheaper.