EU Forces Palestinian Authority to Change School Curriculum

Date: 26 April 2022 - 22:19

News ID: ۱۰۲۰۴۰

BRUSSELS (MEMO) – The European Union will send financial support to the Palestinian Authority on condition that it will change the curriculum and textbooks in use in its schools across the occupied West Bank, Israel Hayom has reported.
The move follows pressure from Hungary to make aid conditional on such change. The amount of aid involved is put at €214 million.
The PA faces an ongoing financial crisis, so the curriculum change is seen as one way to boost the authority’s income. However, Israel Hayom quoted one PA official as saying, “We will not agree to conditional support and assistance.”
Hungary’s EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi visited Ramallah last month and claimed that some of textbooks contain anti-Zionist content, and discussed another demand by several EU countries related to the introduction of reforms in Palestinian institutions in exchange for financial aid.
Senior PA leaders have sent clear messages to Europe in recent days expressing their discontent with the EU’s stalling over the transfer of financial support.
The European Parliament Budget Review Committee adopted Hungary’s position a year ago, claiming that the Palestinian curriculum “contains incitement against Israel and anti-Semitic content.”