For 14 centuries, armies have failed to defeat the ummah. Whenever our ummah faced military invasion, it would rise up, its embers glowing, even if the invaders controlled it for ages. These embers remained burning until liberation.
Our enemies understood this truth and learned the lesson, so they directed their efforts towards a different kind of war: a war on identity. This involves stripping away and erasing its features through cultural and intellectual invasion and tampering with educational curricula, making it easier to conquer and militarily control an ummah devoid of its protective shield.
Identity is how one defines oneself by answering the question: Who am I? It is far from the content of personal identity cards issued by states to their citizens. It is about essence and truth. The identity of an ummah consists of its unique qualities that distinguish it from other ummahs and express its civilizational personality.
Identity always comprises three elements: the creed that provides a worldview, the language used for expression, and the long-standing cultural heritage. (1)
Since educational institutions like schools, universities, and scientific institutes are nurturing environments encountered by most people at some point in their lives, they form the primary foundation for shaping an individual's character and instilling an identity rooted in the society's native culture.
Removing Palestine and Its Related Issues or Marginalizing Them in Curricula Will Erase the Identity of Future Generations
Scientific curricula are the tools that enable societies to build the characters of their individuals according to the culture, beliefs, and philosophy of the society. They comprise the set of educational materials taught to students. (2)
Based on this, educational curricula have always been the primary target in the process of erasing identity, through which an ummah can be directed without its awareness.
Palestine and Educational Curricula
The Palestinian issue is the mother of all issues, mapping the conflict because it is tied to an Islamic Arab land that was usurped, and to Al-Aqsa Mosque, the first Qibla and the site of the Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) night journey. Throughout history, the ummah has paid a heavy price to maintain and reclaim it from its enemies.
The Zionists and their supporters failed to trivialize the Palestinian issue and the Palestinian right in the Islamic and Arab consciousness. Hence, this issue received significant attempts to marginalize it through educational curricula, which have consistently instilled love for Palestine, highlighted its struggle for freedom, and exposed Zionist conspiracies to swallow it. The Zionists pressured all means to delete references to Palestine in educational curricula, both in Palestine and in Arab countries.
In August 1981, former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin visited Egypt and expressed his deep dissatisfaction with the continued study of history books that discuss the Israeli usurpation of Palestine, as well as Islamic education books containing Quranic verses condemning Jews. (3)
Inside Palestine
Since the 1967 naksa and the occupation of Jerusalem, along with the tightening Israeli control over Palestinian territories, the Israeli government has worked on "Israelizing" Palestinian educational curricula. They removed Palestine from educational books and promoted the Zionist narrative about the land of "Israel" and Jewish history, propagating the idea that Arabs are a minority embraced by democratic "Israel". This effort aimed to erase the Palestinian identity from students' minds by reinforcing their allegiance to the Israeli state.
After protests from school principals in Jerusalem regarding these curricula, the occupation authorities conceded to allowing Palestinian schools to teach Jordanian curricula until the Palestinian curricula emerged in 2000. Schools in East Jerusalem and those under the municipality of the occupation began teaching it. However, in 2011, the occupation distorted Palestinian curricula and pressured schools to teach it in this altered form while attempting to impose the Israeli curriculum in Jerusalem schools.
We Must Preserve Our Identity by Keeping the Palestinian Cause as a Central Issue for the Ummah
Efforts to "Israelize" education in Jerusalem intensified after the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy there in 2018. The occupation allocated a large budget to entice schools to teach the Israeli curriculum, which portrays the establishment of Israel from a Zionist perspective. This curriculum emphasizes the importance of the Knesset, the preservation of the Israeli anthem, and deletes Palestinian elements such as intifada poetry and the Palestinian national anthem. Historical lessons like the Battle of Hattin are removed, while Jewish cultural values are promoted. The curriculum also includes a distorted history that negates Palestinian rights in Palestine, erasing Palestinians or categorizing them as non-Jews, minorities, or groups alongside Jews.
In the Arab Region
The Israeli government, supported by its major ally and official sponsor, the United States, pressured Arab governments to alter their educational curricula to omit the Palestinian issue. This aims to create generations unaware and disconnected from Palestinian identity.
While attempts to remove Palestine from Arab educational curricula began earlier, gaining response since the Camp David Accords and later the Wadi Araba Agreement, the events of September 11 provided a stronger opportunity for the US and Israeli entities to push this agenda. The rhetoric of terrorism became a charge used against countries to align with American and Israeli directions, bolstered by normalization efforts. Many Arab countries responded by changing their educational curricula to align with Zionist desires.
Books and lessons critical of Jews, their animosity, betrayal, and violations of agreements were eliminated. Also removed were verses and historical events critical of Jews, including opposition to Israeli settlements and lessons on Jewish occupation of the Holy Land. Instead, new textbooks were introduced focusing on the economic, cultural, and political benefits of peace with Israel. Some countries went as far as completely removing Palestine from their educational curricula, leaving it absent from their teachings.
Our Identity is at Risk
The deletion or marginalization of Palestine and related Palestinian issues in educational curricula threatens to obscure the identity of future generations, exposing them to ignorance about the Palestinian cause and the struggle against the occupying entity.
These trends will erode the markers of loyalty and dissent in young minds, shaping their view of the Palestinian issue as simply a land shared by two peoples who should coexist peacefully, blurring distinctions between enemy and friend.
Such trends will diminish the love for sacred sites in the hearts of future generations, neglecting their historical context which is integral to their identity, including the history of defense and sacrifice for Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.
These generations will lose their identity if they accept imperialist influence willingly under this plan. The danger lies in the fact that even under prolonged occupation, ummahs under occupation maintain their identity as long as they are aware of their right to the land and the necessity of expelling their foreign adversary. However, these teachings, v with normalization, may take away their compass and liberation.
These misguided trends can permeate the generations subjected to these teachings with all facets of normalization, affecting their beliefs, culture, and values.
We are obligated to preserve our identity by ensuring that the Palestinian cause remains central to the ummah. As we may not be able to pressure for curriculum reform, we must take a counteracting approach. Through defining and educating across all platforms available, we emphasize the importance of the Palestinian cause and the struggle against the Zionists.
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(1) Globalization and a World without Identity, Samir Mahmoud Al-Munir, p. 146.
(2) Study titled "Modified Palestinian Curricula in History and Its Impact on National Identity in East Jerusalem Schools," Mervat Abu Asab, Scientific Journal of the Faculty of Education, Assiut University, Volume 38, Issue 8, August 2022.
(3) Derived from: Normalization, Adel Al-Rajhi, p. 9.
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