Teachers in Gaza are holding mass demonstrations and strikes to protest the introduction of Holocaust studies in schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). According to the Middle East Media Research Institute’s report of October 12, 2011, the issue of their refusal to teach about the Holocaust has been raised continually at any dispute between UNWRA administration and its teachers' union since 2009. This has culminated in the most recent protests of early October 2011. Although similar protests are also occurring in Jordan, they are more pronounced in Gaza.
Tensions Between Hamas and UNRWA
This latest renewal of protests follows the three-month suspension of Suheil Al-Hindi, head of the UNRWA workers union in Gaza, for an alleged contravention of union laws. Union members accuse John Ging, Director of UNRWA operations there, of deliberately targeting Al-Hindi because of the latter’s opposition to the teaching of the Holocaust, which they said was seen by UNRWA as Al-Hindi's association with Hamas, the ruling faction. Ging is the official who first announced that Holocaust education would be introduced into UNRWA’s schools in Gaza.
Relations between UNRWA and Hamas have been tense ever since 2007 when Hamas took control. Hamas contends that UNRWA refuses to acknowledge its authority, accusing it of attempting to create a parallel authority. Ging survived two assassination attempts in 2007 and has received death threats.
Mass Demonstrations by UNRWA Teachers
UNRWA, a United Nations’ agency set up in 1949, teaches over 200,000 children at 243 schools in Gaza, which it ranks as one of its top aid recipients in the world. It employs 24,000 workers in its programs—spread over Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza—and most are Palestinian.
In the past, UNRWA explained to US lawmakers who challenged the use of anti-Israel textbooks in UNRWA schools that its policy "takes on the coloration of and yields to the policies of host governments" as reported by Forbes.com.
Each student in UNRWA-run schools in Gaza receives one lesson per week on Human Rights. In 2009 UNRWA announced that Holocaust studies would form part of that weekly lesson. Since then, the issue of teachers' refusal to teach this aspect of human rights education has been raised repeatedly.
On October 5, 2011, 7000 teachers were bussed to Gaza City where they conducted a sit-in at United Nations headquarters there. Banners read, “Death rather than humiliation” and “Deception, lying and hypocrisy have become the core values of UNRWA.”
Accusations Against UNRWA
“Hamas lawmakers often criticise UNRWA’s education policies and some accuse it of trying to teach material that encourages normalisation with Israel or educate pupils about the Holocaust,” states The Khaleej Times, which adds that Islamists carried out arson attacks in the summer of 2011 against UNRWA-run children’s summer camps on the grounds that they allowed mixed-gender activities
In late 2009 UNWRA officials, after initial denials that the organization would include Holocaust studies in the schools, reversed that position and confirmed that Holocaust studies would be taught along with lessons on the Nakba (the Arabic word means “Disaster” and is commonly used by Palestinians in reference to the creation of the Jewish state of Israel).
In April 2011, during an unrelated union strike, workers demanded that Holocaust studies be dropped from the curriculum. In support, Hamas legislative representatives and publications issued harshly critical statements accusing UNRWA of attempting to "distort the thinking" of Palestinian students.
Hamas: Holocaust Education is a "War Crime"
The issue of teaching about the Holocaust is controversial in the Palestinian territories. The Hamas government of Gaza vehemently denies the Holocaust: one of its leaders called the Holocaust a "lie" in January 2011, reports Israel National News; other Hamas officials likened Holocaust education to a "war crime." Palestinian human rights activist, Mustafa Ibrahim, has accused Israel of planning to introduce Holocaust education in order to brainwash Gaza youth.
UNRWA has issued a statement deploring the strike for obstructing education in Gaza as well as its negative effects on workers' incomes in a region with a poor economy, states The American Task Force on Palestine.
Jen L. Jones - Based in Canada, Jones writes on human rights, history,and the natural world. She focuses also on Turkish and Scottish travel and ...
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