New report finds Palestinian textbooks still glorify terror and erase Israel despite EU reform deal

A new analysis of the Palestinian Authority’s 2025-26 school curriculum has found that textbooks taught to more than a million pupils continue to glorify terrorism, erase Israel from maps and promote extreme antisemitic tropes – despite a formal EU agreement requiring major reforms.

The study, published on Wednesday by international research institute IMPACT-se, reviewed 290 textbooks and 71 teacher guides used across the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, including in UNRWA schools. It concludes that no meaningful changes have been made to any of the material due to be aligned with UNESCO standards by this academic year.

In July 2024, the PA signed an agreement obliging it to overhaul textbooks for Grades 1-4 and Grade 12, with the EU linking future funding to compliance. Brussels has transferred more than €500m to the PA, while the new “Donor Platform” promised to monitor reform, has yet to be made public.

According to the report, the latest textbooks still depict “Palestine” stretching from the river to the sea, remove references to past peace talks and cast Jewish history in Jerusalem as fabricated. Maps omit Israel entirely, while Jewish heritage sites are relabelled as exclusively Islamic.

Examples cited include imagery showing a Star-of-David marked arm gripping the world and lessons accusing Jews of controlling global finance and media. Teacher guides instruct educators to teach that Israeli Jews are “fated to disappear”.

Marcus Sheff, IMPACT-se’s chief executive, said: “This comprehensive report exposes a stark and disturbing reality: virulent antisemitism, the glorification of jihad and incitement to violence remain deeply embedded across all grades of Palestinian Authority textbooks.”

He added: “The Palestinian Authority signed a formal agreement with the European Union – its largest funder – to remove this hate-filled content, a demand also made by the United States, which has consequently sanctioned PA officials.”

“The obvious conclusion of this report is that barring long-overdue, deep and sustained intervention by the international community, then systematic indoctrination of Palestinians via extremist education is here to stay. The curriculum being taught today is a blueprint for future violence and terror.”

The review cites multiple instances of glorified violence, including praise for Dalal Mughrabi, who led the 1978 Coastal Road massacre in which 38 Israelis, including 13 children, were murdered. Grade 1 pupils learn “martyr” as an early spelling word, while older students study poems urging them to “return” to Israeli cities, “with a weapon in your hand”.

Scientific subjects are also infused with violent imagery. A physics lesson uses a girl firing a slingshot to illustrate Newton’s Law; a Grade 3 maths worksheet teaches digits by counting “martyrs”. Biology classes include diagrams of wounded Palestinian children to explain bodily systems.

The report also warns that the PA curriculum promotes gender inequality, portraying women as inferior and unfit for leadership, while religious materials blame them for moral decline.

IMPACT-se says the findings are especially significant given the UK, Canada, France and Australia’s decision last year to formally recognise a Palestinian state – a diplomatic shift that, it argues, places new responsibility on these governments to hold the PA to international standards in education.

The full report is available from IMPACT-se.