Wednesday, October 05, 2016
Elder of ZiyonA private school in Doha has found itself in trouble after using textbooks that appear to feature Palestinians as their choice examples of “terrorism” - using the actions of Palestinian groups like the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) PLO and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to discuss concepts like “hijacking” and “suicide vests”.
The debacle began when pictures of the textbook used at the International School of Choueifat in Doha were shared on social media websites, highlighting the controversial chapter in question
The Qatari Ministry of Education was quick to respond, with Doha News reporting that the textbook has been removed from the school.Many saw the textbook as unfair propaganda against the Palestinian people, taking to Twitter to react to the news and ask their government to look for similar instances in other schools.
According to their website, the International School of Choueifat has schools in a number of Middle Eastern countries, but whether this scandal will cause the school to change its international policies is yet to be seen.
As of now Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan have forced the international school to withdraw the textbook from their teaching curriculum.Here are the parts of the book that caused such angst.
“Palestinian terrorists took over several airlines in 1970, including two American, one Swiss and one British. They targeted American planes because they felt the USA always helped out Israel, a country that occupies land that the Palestinians claim is their own. They wanted their own country – Palestine – and wanted land that Israel occupies. Terrorist acts continue to this day in the Middle East.”
“Explosives are attached to the bomber’s body. They approach their target and explode the bomb. Palestinian terrorists are well-known for this.”
The book itself is "Key Stage 3 History by Aaron Wilkes: Technology, War and Independence 1901-Present Day" by Oxford University Press.
As far as I can tell, there is no pushback from Arabs saying that, you know, suicide bombings really are acts of terror no matter who does them. Such thinking may exist but saying it out loud in the Arab world is not the smartest thing to do.
Because, as this incident shows, according to Arab countries, Palestinian suicide bombings that kill dozens of civilians are not considered terror acts.
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