The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the Nakba, the 1948 Palestine War, and subsequent conflicts, as well as their descendants, including legally adopted children. As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees.
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in the southern Levant region of West Asia recognized by 146 out of 193 UN member states. It encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, collectively known as the occupied Palestinian territories, within the broader geographic and historical Palestine region. Palestine shares most of its borders with Israel, and it borders Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest. It has a total land area of 6,020 square kilometres (2,320 sq mi) while its population exceeds five million people. Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, while Ramallah serves as its administrative center. Gaza City was its largest city prior to evacuations in 2023.
The Saudi Arabian textbook controversy refers to criticism of the role of the content of school textbooks in Saudi Arabia in the perpetration of the September 11 attacks.
Education in the State of Palestine refers to the educational system in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which is administered by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education. Enrollment rates amongst Palestinians are relatively high by regional and global standards. According to a youth survey in 2003, 60% between the ages 10–24 indicated that education was their first priority. Youth literacy rate was 98.2%, while the national literacy rate was 91.1% in 2006. The literacy rate ages 15-24 was 99.4% in 2016. Enrollment ratios for higher education were 45% in 2022. In 2016 Hanan Al Hroub was awarded the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize for her work in teaching children how to cope with violence.
Itamar Marcus is a researcher and the founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, which studies Palestinian society by monitoring and analyzing the Palestinian Authority (PA) through its media and schoolbooks.
Textbooks in Israel and the Palestinian territories have emerged as an issue within the larger Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Nurit Peled-Elhanan is an Israeli philologist, professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, translator, and activist. She is a 2001 co-laureate of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought awarded by the European Parliament. She is known for her research on the portrayal of Palestinians in Israeli textbooks, which she has criticized as being anti-Palestinian. Elhanan supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Textbooks in Israel are published in Israel by the Ministry of Education of Israel and other educational institutions.
Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel is a network of integrated, bilingual schools serving Jewish and Arab children in Israel. Hand in Hand was co-founded by Israeli Arab educator Amin Khalaf and Israeli-American educator Lee Gordon in 1997 with 50 students in two schools.
Oranit is an Israeli settlement and local council located in the Seam Zone of the West Bank, abutting and crossing the Green Line. It is surrounded by Horshim forest to the west, Rosh HaAyin and Kfar Qasim to the southwest, Sha'arei Tikva to the east, and Khirbet Abu Salman to the northeast. In 2022 it had a population of 9,295.
Palestinian Textbooks: From Arafat to Abbas and Hamas is a March 2008 publication by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC). The book summarizes former analyses by IMPACT-SE of Palestinian Authority textbooks, beginning in 1998, and outlines how Palestinian school textbooks have changed or not changed under the leadership of Yassir Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas regarding the portrayal of peace and the 'Other', namely Israel and Jews.
Jews, Israel and Peace in Palestinian School Textbooks is a November 2001 publication by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education -- then the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace -- on how Palestinian school textbooks portray peace and the 'Other', namely Jews and Israel. The publication is the first in a series of textbook analyses on Palestinian textbooks, with the most recent publication, Palestinian Textbooks: From Arafat to Abbas and Hamas, published in March 2008.
The Parents Circle-Families Forum is a grassroots organization of Palestinian and Israeli families who have lost immediate family members due to the conflict. The PCFF operates under the principle that a process of reconciliation is a prerequisite for achieving a sustained peace. The PCFF is also known as Israeli Palestinian Bereaved Families for Reconciliation and Peace and as Bereaved Families Supporting Peace, Reconciliation, and Tolerance.
Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority took place throughout 2010 as part of the peace process, between United States President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The ultimate aim of the direct negotiations is reaching an official "final status settlement" to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict by implementing a two-state solution, with Israel remaining a Jewish state, and the establishment of a state for the Palestinian people.
Political relations between the State of Palestine and the United States have been complex and strained since the 1960s. While the U.S. does not recognize the State of Palestine, it recognizes the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the legitimate representative entity for the Palestinian people; following the Oslo Accords, it recognized the Palestinian National Authority as the legitimate Palestinian government of the Palestinian territories.
Elder of Ziyon is an American pro-Israel blog. It is written anonymously.
Deception: Betraying the Peace Process is a book published in 2011 by the Israel-based media watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch. Deception analyses a year of cultural, educational and general media sources in the Palestinian Authority (PA), beginning from May 2010, the month that indirect Israeli–Palestinian talks were initiated by the US. The book concludes that the PA systematically fomented anti-Israel sentiment and promoted violence to undermine the peace process and a two-state solution. It reports hundreds of examples of the "PA's policy of" glorifying terrorism and demonizing Israelis and Jews, in print, websites, videos, and school texts. It states that the Palestinian leadership is deceiving the international community, presenting itself in English as pursuing peace, while propagating hate speech and support for violence in Arabic.
The Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information is a joint Israeli/Palestinian NGO and public policy think tank based in Jerusalem working towards building partnerships in Israel/Palestine. Under shared Israeli-Palestinian leadership, IPCRI carries out research and projects in various fields from economic development to environmental sustainability. IPCRI also facilitates public outreach and track two negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
Aziz Abu Sarah is a Palestinian peace activist, journalist, social entrepreneur and politician.
Marcus Sheff is an Israeli-British non-profit chief executive officer (CEO), former media executive and journalist.
