"Western Civilization will become a pile of rubble" in Palestinian education

September 17, 2001

by Itamar Marcus and Ruthie Blum:

Introduction:

The Arab world has been attempting to depict America as a victim of their support for Israel and are claiming that the Arabs have no inherent anti -American bias. However, there is nothing farther from the truth. The Palestinian Authority has been teaching their people for years, that the PA sees the Palestinian conflict with Israel and the United States as two branches in the general total global war of Islam against the West and all other religions. An 11th grade PA textbook describes the inevitable victory of Islam over the West with words that become ever so chilling following the World Trade Center horror: "... We do not claim that the collapse of Western civilization, and the transfer of the center of civilization to us [Islam] will happen in the next decade . Nevertheless [Western civilization] has begun to collapse and to become a pile of rubble." ["Some Outstanding Examples of Our Civilization" for Eleventh Grade]

In Palestinian Authority schoolbooks, Western society and values, especially those the United States, are portrayed as corrupt, that will inevitably lead to their demise. At times this Western demise is seen as a natural process arising from the innate Western corruption. In other texts the children are taught that the Jihad Muslim fighters will be victorious over the West through Jihad (Holy War for Allah).

The following are citations from two Palestinian school textbooks that reflect attitudes prevalent in Palestinian society:
[The books are published by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education based on previously published Jordanian books, and in use in the school year 2000-2001. Translations by Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace.]

The school texts:

"In the present period, which exceeds all previous periods in terms of the material and scientific advances taking place, social, psychological and medical scientists in the West are perplexed by the worrying increase in the number of people suffering from nervous disorders...and the statistics from America in this matter are a clear indication of this."

"Western civilization, in both its branches - the capitalist and the Communist - deprived man of his peace of mind, stability and noble human examples whom he can respect, when it turned material well-being into the exemplary goal . his money leading him nowhere, except to suicide..."

"Western civilization is the representation of the highest form of material life achieved by man, but this alone does not bring him happiness, as you have seen. There is no escape from a new civilization.The Western world is not capable of fulfilling this role.There is only one nation capable of discharging this task and that is our nation [Islam]..."

"... We do not claim that the collapse of Western civilization, and the transfer of the center of civilization to us [Islam] will happen in the next decade or two or even in fifty years, for the rise and fall of civilizations follow natural processes. And even when the foundations of a fortress become cracked, it still appears.to be at the peak of its strength. Nevertheless [Western civilization] has begun to collapse and to become a pile of rubble."

"Since the beginning of our reawakening ... We awoke to a painful reality and oppressive imperialism and we drove it out of some of our lands and we are about to drive it from the rest..."
[Some Outstanding Examples of Our Civilization for Eleventh Grade]

"Islam, The True Religion: The Victory of Islam: . This religion [Islam] will defeat all other religions and it will be disseminated, by Allah's will, through the Muslim Jihad fighters."

[Islamic Education for Seventh Grade p. 125]