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I thought that you might be interested in reading this op-ed piece that I wrote. It was published today in Newsday.

Arab Schools Must Stop Teaching Hatred
By Steve Israel

Rep. Steve Israel represents New York's 2nd Congressional District
April 26, 2002

LAST YEAR, I met with King Abdullah II of Jordan. Over tea, he predicted that, as a new generation of leaders emerged in the Mideast, peace would be possible.

He said that when his father, King Hussein, used to meet with the former president of Syria, they talked about rivalry, conflict and violence. But, he added, now when he meets with Syria's young president, Bashar Assad, they talk about modernizing financial institutions and expanding the Internet. Yet, since my talk with King Abdullah, almost 500 Israelis and approximately 1,300 Palestinians have died in Mideast violence.

I have come to agree with young King Abdullah that peace in the Mideast is fundamentally a generational issue. But at this moment a young generation of Palestinians and other Muslims in the Mideast are being taught every day to hate the United States and Israel. Maps and geography textbooks in Palestinian schools and all through the Muslim world deliberately eliminate any reference to the state of Israel, stamping the word "Palestine" on the maps over Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, Eilat, the Negev and the Galilee.

In the text "Modern Arab History and Contemporary Problems," Zionism is defined as "a political, aggressive and colonialist movement, which calls for judaization of Palestine by the expulsion of its Arab inhabitants." In "Our Country Palestine," a banner on the title page of Volume I reads "there is no alternative to destroying Israel." And in the text, "Our Arabic Language for 7th Grade," one exercise for students reads: "Subject for composition: How are we going to liberate our stolen land? Make use of the following ideas: Arab unity, genuine faith in Allah, most modern weapons . . . " If one wishes to find the breeding ground of teenage suicide bombers, one need not look beyond the state-controlled curriculum of the Palestinian National Authority.

In Syria, fourth-grade textbooks equate Zionism with Nazism. A 10th-grade textbook labels Jews "a menace that should be exterminated." The madrassas schools of Pakistan have turned out a generation of Taliban and al-Qaida that terrorizes the world. Iraqi textbooks demonize Jews, Americans and Kurds with equal venality. The message is clear: To control the politics of the next generation, control the textbooks of the current generation.

If Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab League were truly serious about peace, they would have offered to reform their education systems and stop preaching hatred in their classrooms. Rather than focusing on borders and capitals, they would have committed to rewriting their textbooks, revamping their curricula, professionalizing their teachers, and promoting peaceful change through hope, rather than despair and hate. Rather than shrouding their own failures by feeding the nest a steady diet of blame against the West, they would empower their children with knowledge in science and technology to create jobs, expand literacy and promote prosperity.

There is an emerging model of enlightened education in the Arab world. Tunisia is an example of an Islamic society that recognized that the radical indoctrination of its students was thwarting its long-term economic prospects and stifling global competitiveness. For the last 13 years, the Tunisian Ministry of Education has revamped and reformed that northern African Muslim country's educational and curriculum system. There has not yet been a corresponding reform of democratic political values in Tunisia, but history would suggest that educational reform would trigger economic and political reform within a generation.

Indeed, the most fundamental change that took place in both Japan and Germany after the end of World War II was a completely reformed educational system that promoted human rights, democracy and economic individualism.

There are several U.S. government and private institutions that have the mandate and the resources to assist moderate Arab countries in curriculum and textbook reform. The National Endowment for Democracy has worked extensively in civic education. Additionally, the United States Agency for International Development and the international arm of the U.S. Department of Education should fund curriculum-rewriting projects aimed at strengthening democratic values and building a civic culture. The United States should be more focused on a foreign and economic policy that emphasizes education over indoctrination in Arab states.

Above all, the Bush administration should insist to all Arab governments that the seriousness of their commitment against terrorism will be judged not by public relations rhetoric but rather by the progress they make in second grade.