Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2374 To require the Secretary of State to submit annual reports reviewing the educational material used by the Palestinian Authority, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 5, 2021 Mr. SHERMAN (for himself, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. MAST, and Mr. TRONE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To require the Secretary of State to submit annual reports reviewing the educational material used by the Pales- tinian Authority, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Peace and Tolerance 4 in Palestinian Education Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2374.IH H2374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2374 IH (1) In 2016 and 2017, the Palestinian Author- 1 ity published modified curricula for school-aged chil- 2 dren in grades 1 through 11. 3 (2) Textbooks used by the Palestinian Author- 4 ity (PA) in the West Bank and Gaza include graph- 5 ics portraying violence against Israeli soldiers, posi- 6 tive portrayals of individuals who have committed at- 7 tacks against citizens of Israel, and references to 8 Palestinian efforts to target the ‘‘Zionists’’. 9 (3) PA textbooks are used at schools sponsored 10 by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency 11 (UNRWA) because UNRWA schools use the text- 12 books of the host government. 13 (4) On April 26, 2018, the Government Ac- 14 countability Office (GAO) published a report that 15 found the following: 16 (A) Textbooks in PA schools feature inac- 17 curate and misleading maps of the region and 18 include militaristic, adversarial imagery and 19 content that incite hatred. 20 (B) The Department of State raised with 21 Palestinian officials the objectionable content in 22 textbooks, including a specific math problem 23 using the number of Palestinian casualties in 24 the First and Second Intifadas. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2374.IH H2374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2374 IH (C) The United Nations Relief and Works 1 Agency (UNRWA), in its review of the text- 2 books, identified content not aligned with 3 United Nations values, the majority of which 4 content related to neutrality or bias issues, in- 5 cluding issues related to maps and references to 6 Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. 7 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 8 It is the sense of Congress that the Palestinian Au- 9 thority has not sufficiently eliminated content and pas- 10 sages encouraging violence or intolerance toward other 11 countries or ethnic groups from the curriculum used in 12 their schools. 13 SEC. 4. REPORTS REQUIRED. 14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 15 date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter 16 for two years in accordance with subsection (c), the Sec- 17 retary of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign 18 Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Com- 19 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report review- 20 ing curriculum used in schools in areas controlled by the 21 Palestinian Authority or located in Gaza and controlled 22 by any other entity. Each such report shall include the 23 following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2374.IH H2374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2374 IH (1) A determination of whether there is content 1 or passages encouraging violence or intolerance to- 2 ward other countries or ethnic groups in such cur- 3 riculum, and a detailed explanation of the reasons 4 for reaching such determination. 5 (2) An assessment of the steps the Palestinian 6 Authority is taking to reform such curriculum at 7 schools to conform with standards of peace and tol- 8 erance in the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance 9 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and 10 Cultural Organization (adopted November 16, 11 1995). 12 (3) A determination whether United States for- 13 eign assistance is used, directly or indirectly, to fund 14 the dissemination of such curriculum by the Pales- 15 tinian Authority. 16 (4) A detailed report on how United States as- 17 sistance is being used to address curriculum that en- 18 courages violence or intolerance toward other nations 19 or ethnic groups. 20 (5) A detailed report about United States diplo- 21 matic efforts in the preceding five years to encour- 22 age peace and tolerance in Palestinian education. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2374.IH H2374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2374 IH (6) If any diplomatic efforts referred to in para- 1 graph (5) were stopped by the Secretary of State, 2 the reasons for such stoppages. 3 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary of State 4 shall post on a publicly available website of the Depart- 5 ment of State each report required under subsection (a). 6 (c) SUBSEQUENT DEADLINES.—Each report required 7 by subsection (a), other than the first such report, shall 8 be submitted not later than 90 days after the date on 9 which a new school year begins for schools controlled by 10 the Palestinian Authority. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2374.IH H2374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS