The International School of Choueifat (ISC) in Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan have been forced to withdraw textbooks which describe the Palestinian resistance as ‘terrorists’, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported yesterday.
Parents complained to the school after spotting excerpts of the books said Palestinians are practicing terrorism in the Middle East.
The Qatari Ministry of Education and higher education visited the school and issued a statement on Twitter, stating: “The books’ contents were found to contradict Qatar’s foreign policy.”
Textbook withdrawn for calling Palestinian terrorism#Qatar #Maydan_qatar #Education #Politics #Palestinian_issuehttps://t.co/F46WdASwij pic.twitter.com/17XuV74fkn
— Maydan Qatar (@maydan_qatar) October 5, 2016
The ministry responded after photographs of a page from the unnamed English-language book were posted on Twitter.
The school confirmed to Doha News that the book was a Grade 9 history text entitled Technology, War and Independence, by Oxford University Press.
All copies of the book were removed and students were reimbursed for costs incurred, the ministry said, adding that the school was warned to seek approval before using any book.
Under the “What is terrorism?” section of the book, the book gave examples of suicide bombings and Palestinian acts of resistance.
(MEMO, PC)
