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Deradicalizing Palestinian Society
(Times of Israel) Gianluca Pacchiani - During a recent visit to Ramallah, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel confronted UN officials over the glorification of terrorism contained in school curricula. In a video, Bettel is seen holding a textbook and challenging an official: "UNRWA is not neutral on education if they teach this. It's in the book." The Palestinian education system has been criticized for years for promoting indoctrination, antisemitism, and violence. But despite condemnations by the European Parliament every year for the past five years, the PA has resisted amending its textbooks to address these issues. Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, argues that genuine change will require a more comprehensive societal shift than just revising textbooks. "In order to promote dramatic change...you need that the other side, the Palestinians, will also have the basic desire to change things. I don't see any of that....In Gaza at the moment...society will reject any attempt at deradicalization. Bringing new teachers and changing the textbooks is very important, but it's not enough."