‘’ Young Palestinian minds are being poisoned. The opportunity for Britain to help promote the values of peace, reconciliation and coexistence squandered. This is not about a peaceful future. It is a scandal,’’ said MP Louise Ellman.

LONDON—A bill mandating that U.K. assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) education system complies with international values of peace and tolerance has been introduced in the British parliament.

MP Louise Ellman MP, who is Vice Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, introduced the legislation that prohibits international development assistance to schools operated by the Palestinian National Authority that do not promote values endorsed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and  requirse the Secretary of State to publish an annual review to ensure compliance. The UK is a major financial contributor to the PA.

In her speech to parliament, the MP quoted a report of the Jerusalem-based Institute for Monitoring Cultural Peace and Tolerance in School (IMPACT-se) that showed the reformed school curriculum introduced last September is “more radical than ever, purposefully and strategically encouraging Palestinian children to sacrifice themselves to martyrdom”

‘’ Young Palestinian minds are being poisoned. The opportunity for Britain to help promote the values of peace, reconciliation and coexistence squandered. This is not about a peaceful future. It is a scandal,’’ she added.

She noted that references to previous peace agreements, summits and proposals, previously present in schoolbooks, have been expunged.

‘’Five-year-olds taught the word for “martyr” as part of their first lessons in Arabic. Eleven-year-olds taught that martyrdom and jihad are ‘the most important meanings of life’ … These lessons in hate are all-pervasive, infesting every aspect of the curriculum.”

The bill follows a debate in the British Parliament last year on ‘Incitement in the Palestinian education system’ initiated by MP Joan Ryan,  Chair of the Labour Friends of Israel  which triggered an announcement by the UK Government to review Palestinian education amid fear textbooks promote hate.

During her presentation,  Ryan displayed a Palestinian textbook and showed examples in the curriculum from the IMPACT-se report.

In the US, a similar legislation, the Palestinian Authority Educational Curriculum Transparency Act is currently passing through the Congress. In April 2018, the European Parliament adopted a legislation that states that European Union funds to the Palestinian Authority are not used for teaching hate.