European-funded foundation trains Palestinian teachers using text on child-murderer as example
The A.M Qattan Foundation trained Palestinian teachers in a specific education approach using a 5th grade lesson describing terrorist Dalal Mughrabi who led the murder of 37, including 12 kids, as a hero
“Co-funding partners” of the foundation include the EU, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UNICEF, and UNRWA
Lesson includes praise for terrorist murderer: “Dalal rode the sea while leading her group of [13] self-sacrificing fighters… Dalal and eight of her heroic squad members ascended to Heaven as Martyrs… [Dalal] watered the soil of Palestine with her pure blood, and brought to bloom a history full of unrelenting revolution"
The European-funded A.M. Qattan Foundation recently completed a training course for Palestinian teachers in the Hebron area “in partnership with the supervisory unit of the North Hebron Directorate of Education” - i.e., a branch of the PA Ministry of Education. The foundation, which according to its website is an “independent, not-for-profit developmental organization” based in the UK with a branch in the PA, reported that the “learning experience” for 50 English and Arabic teachers was “applied to one of the 5th grade lessons titled ‘Dalal Mughrabi’.” [Website of the A.M. Qattan Foundation]
Terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi led the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history in which terrorists killed 37 civilians, among them these 12 children:
The instructors from the foundation saw no problem choosing educational material for young children that glorifies the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history and honors the murderer who led it.
The material should certainly bother the foundation’s many European donors.
The A.M. Qattan Foundation lists among its “co-funding partners” the EU, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UNICEF, and UNRWA. [Website of the A.M. Qattan Foundation, accessed Aug. 30, 2021]
The A.M. Qattan Foundation did not elaborate further on what educational material was used other than stating that it was “one of the 5th grade lessons titled ‘Dalal Mughrabi’.”
However, since the North Hebron Directorate of Education - which is a branch of the PA Ministry of Education - was a partner in the training course, they probably used the PA’s 5th Grade Arabic Language schoolbook. Palestinian Media Watch translated the chapter on terrorist Dalal Mughrabi of the book published in 2017, which glorifies the murderer as follows:
“Dalal rode the sea while leading her group of self-sacrificing fighters… . Dalal and her group snuck ashore. Dalal took a handful of the soil of her bleeding homeland (i.e., Israel's coast), and passionately inhaled its scent… ‘We are a people who demands its right to its homeland, which you have stolen.' Then she took out a flag of Palestine from her bag, kissed it, and hung it inside the bus… Dalal and eight of her heroic squad members ascended to Heaven as Martyrs… Dalal… watered the soil of Palestine with her pure blood, and brought to bloom a history full of unrelenting revolution."
[PA 5th Grade Arabic Language Schoolbook, Part B, 2017]
The PA schoolbook chapter describes the killing and injuring of all the people on the bus, falsely attributing it to the Israeli army and not to the terrorists on the bus who used automatic rifles and hand grenades to murder the 37 Israeli civilians. (See longer translation of the PA schoolbook lesson below.)
A slightly different version of the chapter appears on YouTube, posted and read by PA teacher Nasser Al-Rajabi from the Wasaya Al-Rasoul School for Boys in Hebron:
Text on screen:
“Dalal Mughrabi
(Coastal Operation)
1978"
PA teacher Nasser Al-Rajabi reads from the PA 5th Grade Arabic Language Schoolbook: “Dalal rode the sea while leading her group of [13] self-sacrificing fighters… Their rubber boat capsized and two of the group's heroes drowned… Her group saw the lights of the Palestinian (sic., Israeli) coast, and they snuck ashore… Dalal took a handful of the soil of her bleeding homeland, and passionately inhaled its scent… With her group she stopped one of the buses... Dalal boarded the bus standing tall, and said to the people inside: ‘We don’t want to kill you, we have come in order to rescue our brothers who are prisoners in your prisons... We are a people who demands its right to its homeland, which you have stolen.’ Then she took out the flag of Palestine from her bag, kissed it, and hung it inside the bus… They [the Israelis] appointed a special unit of the army under the command of [future Israeli PM] Ehud Barak to attack the bus with machine guns and shells, while using aircraft and tanks, and to kill everyone in it… Many of the passengers were killed and Dalal and eight of her heroic squad members ascended to Heaven as Martyrs… [Dalal] watered the soil of Palestine with her pure blood, and brought to bloom a history full of unrelenting revolution."
Visual:
Text in book: “We will answer the following questions.”
“The number of heroes in the group of self-sacrificing fighters was:”
Answer: “13 self-sacrificing fighters.”
“How old was Dalal Mughrabi when she died as a Martyr?”
Answer: “She was 20 years old.”
“What was the result of the battle that took place between the occupation forces and the group of self-sacrificing fighters?”
Answer: “Dalal and the squad members died as Martyrs. The occupation soldiers suffered a number of killed and wounded.”
[YouTube channel “Teacher Nasser Al-Rajabi
– an Education and Entertainment Channel,” Feb. 26, 2020]
Female Palestinian terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who together with other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus and murdered 37 civilians including 12 children, is highly esteemed in Palestinian society. As Palestinian Media Watch has exposed for decades, the PA actively promotes her as a role model to Palestinians, and particularly to youth, as seen recently when summer camps were named after the murderer. Other PA means of glorifying and endorsing Mughrabi as a role model for Palestinian youth include naming sporting events and schools after her, as well as praising her in school books.
The following is a longer excerpt of the A.M. Qattan Foundation’s report on the teachers’ course and a longer excerpt of the schoolbook chapter on murderer Dalal Mughrabi as it appears in the PA schoolbook from 2017:
Headline: “The A.M. Qattan [Foundation] completed a training course in Halhoul about the curricula on using [the education approach] the ‘Mantle of the Expert’ in the Arabic and English language curricula”
“The educational integration unit of the [EU-funded] A.M. Qattan Foundation’s educational program, in partnership with the supervisory unit of the North Hebron Directorate of Education (i.e., a branch of the PA Ministry of Education), completed a training course that lasted three days, Aug. 8-10, 2021, with the participation of 50 male and female English and Arabic language teachers from different areas of the Hebron district…
The Arabic language teachers participated in a learning experience in which the ‘Mantle of the Expert’ method was used, which was applied to one of the 5th grade lessons titled ‘Dalal Mughrabi’ (i.e., terrorist who led murder of 37, 12 of them children).”
[Website of the A.M. Qattan Foundation, Aug. 12, 2021]
According to its website, the A.M. Qattan Foundation (AMQF) is an independent not-for-profit developmental organization. AMQF lists among its “co-funding partners” the EU, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UNICEF, and UNRWA. [Website of the A.M. Qattan Foundation, accessed Aug. 30, 2021]
The following is the 2017 version of the PA schoolbook with the chapter on terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi:
"Chapter 5"
An image shows terrorist Dalal Mughrabi. She is wearing a keffiyeh (Arab headdress) with a Palestinian flag flowing in front of her and a sea coast in the background.
"Our Palestinian history is full of many names of Martyrs (Shahids) who gave their lives for the homeland. One of them is female Martyr Dalal Mughrabi (i.e., terrorist who led murder of 37, 12 of them children), who with her struggle recorded one of the pictures of defiance and courage; and thus she became an eternal memory in our hearts and minds. The text before us talks about one of the aspects of her struggle.
Reading:
At the Sabra [refugee] camp, one of the camps of Beirut that is full of pain because of the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel), fighting leader Dalal Mughrabi was born. About two decades after her birth, she responded to the call of the homeland that was crying out for help.
Dalal rode the sea while leading her group of self-sacrificing fighters (Fedayeen), the Deir Yassin group, which numbered 13 self-sacrificing fighters. The sea, as is its habit, was sometimes calm and sometimes rough and stormy, and their rubber boat capsized and two of the group's heroes drowned. The others struggled against the waves and clung to their boat until the commander and her group saw the lights of the Palestinian (sic., Israeli) coast before them. Dalal and her group snuck ashore, and saw the minarets of the Hassan Bek Mosque [in Jaffa]; orange groves smiled at them and the stones of the Ajami neighborhood [of Jaffa] called to them.
Dalal took a handful of the soil of her bleeding homeland, and passionately inhaled its scent. Afterward, she waited for the crucial moment, and with her group she stopped one of the buses that was on its way to Haifa. Dalal boarded the bus standing tall, and said to the people inside: 'We do not want to kill you, we will just hold you as hostages in order to rescue our brothers who are imprisoned in your prisons from the clutches of captivity. We are a people who demands its right to its homeland, which you have stolen.' And then she took out a flag of Palestine from her bag, kissed it, and hung it inside the bus.
The occupation forces were informed of the bus hijacking and they placed blockades. However, Dalal and those with her succeeded in passing all of the blockades, until in the end the bus was stopped with great difficulty, after the occupiers assembled their army's forces. Then an unequal battle took place between her group and the occupiers, who surrounded them from every direction, and then she and eight of her heroic comrades ascended [to Heaven] as Martyrs, after they wounded many and took many lives from the occupation forces. Thus Dalal gave back to Deir Yassin (see note below –Ed.) some of what it was entitled to; she watered the soil of Palestine with her pure blood, and brought to bloom a history full of unrelenting revolution."
P. 53
"Comprehension, analysis, and language:
First – we will answer the following questions:
- We will fill in the blanks in the following sentences:
- Dalal Mughrabi was born in _________.
- The name of the group that Dalal Mughrabi led is the _________ squad.
- Before reaching the Palestinian coast, ___ members of the group drowned.
- The number of heroes in the group of self-sacrificing fighters was ____.
- How old was Dalal Mughrabi when she died as a Martyr?
- Where did Dalal and her group land?
- We will explain the goal of the bus hijacking operation that Dalal and her group carried out.
- What was the result of the battle that took place between the occupation forces and the group of self-sacrificing fighters?
Second – we will think and answer the following questions:
- What is the reason behind calling Dalal's group of self-sacrificing fighters the Deir Yassin squad?
- How did Dalal and her group give back to Deir Yassin part of what it is entitled to?
- What do Dalal's words 'We do not want to kill you' indicate?
- Palestinian women have a role in the resistance to the occupation; how is this expressed in the text?"
P. 54
"Activity:
We will examine the Palestinian Encyclopedia or the internet and look for:
- The names of Palestinian female Jihad fighters who were killed as Martyrs while resisting the occupier.
- The names of the two heroes that drowned in the sea before Dalal's group reached the sea (sic., shore)."
[PA 5th Grade Arabic Language schoolbook, Part B, 2017]
