Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2343 To require the Secretary of State to submit annual reports reviewing the educational material used by the Palestinian Authority or the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in the West Bank and Gaza, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 18, 2019 Mr. SHERMAN (for himself, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. TRONE, Mr. MAST, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, and Mr. WEBER of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 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 or the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in the West Bank and Gaza, 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 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2343.IH H2343 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2343 IH (1) In 2016 and 2017, the Palestinian Author- 1 ity published modified curriculums for school-aged 2 children in grades 1 through 11. 3 (2) The new Palestinian curriculums fail to 4 meet the international standards of peace and toler- 5 ance in educational materials established by the 6 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural 7 Organization. 8 (3) Textbooks used by the Palestinian Author- 9 ity and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency 10 for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) 11 in the West Bank and Gaza demonize Israel, encour- 12 age war, and teach children that Palestinian state- 13 hood can be achieved through violence. 14 (4) On April 26, 2018, the Government Ac- 15 countability Office published a report that found 16 that textbooks in UNRWA schools do not mention 17 Israel or Judaism, feature maps of the region that 18 exclude Israel, and include content that incites vio- 19 lence. 20 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 21 It is the sense of Congress that the Palestinian Au- 22 thority and UNRWA have not sufficiently worked to elimi- 23 nate all content and passages encouraging violence or in- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2343.IH H2343 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2343 IH tolerance toward other nations or ethnic groups from the 1 curriculum used in their respective schools. 2 SEC. 4. REPORT REQUIRED. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 4 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 5 for ten years in accordance with subsection (c), the Sec- 6 retary of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign 7 Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Com- 8 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report review- 9 ing curriculum used in schools controlled by the Pales- 10 tinian Authority or UNRWA in the West Bank and Gaza 11 that includes the following: 12 (1) A determination whether all content and 13 passages encouraging violence or intolerance toward 14 other nations or ethnic groups has been removed in 15 such curriculum, and a detailed explanation of the 16 reasons for reaching such determination. 17 (2) An assessment of the steps the Palestinian 18 Authority and UNRWA are taking to reform such 19 curriculum at schools to conform with standards of 20 peace and tolerance in the Declaration of Principles 21 on Tolerance by the United Nations Educational, 22 Scientific and Cultural Organization (adopted No- 23 vember 16, 1995). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2343.IH H2343 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2343 IH (3) A determination whether United States for- 1 eign assistance is used, directly or indirectly, to fund 2 the dissemination of such curriculum by the Pales- 3 tinian Authority or UNRWA. 4 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall 5 make each report submitted pursuant to subsection (a) on 6 a publicly available website of the Department of State. 7 (c) SUBSEQUENT DEADLINES.—Each report required 8 by subsection (a), other than first, shall be submitted not 9 later than 90 days after the date on which a new school 10 year begins for schools controlled by the Palestinian Au- 11 thority or UNRWA schools in the West Bank and Gaza. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2343.IH H2343 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS