Is peace in the Middle East possible? Last month’s Israel Answers article affirmed that Palestinian statehood would not result in peace in the Middle East primarily because a whole generation of young Palestinian adults have been taught from a young age that dismantling Israel is the only path to peace. Antisemitic Palestinian textbooks have made Jew hatred a part of Palestinian identity.
The curriculum has indoctrinated and radicalized young people to support terrorism and genocide. A 2020 European Union study about incitement in Palestinian Authority (PA) textbooks revealed examples of this, such as using a picture of Palestinians hitting Israeli soldiers with slingshots to teach physics. Another textbook taught a conspiracy theory that Israel removed the original stones of ancient sites in Jerusalem and replaced them with stones with Zionist symbols and shapes. Innocent kids who grew up learning this as truth are now adults who believe at their core that Jewish people have taken their land and are the enemy.
Education: The Key to Peace in the Middle East
If the root of hatred of Israel is what Palestinians are being taught and brainwashed to believe, then a key to true and lasting peace is proper education. However, ensuring Palestinian children receive it is easier said than done. In Gaza, for example, before October 7 and the resulting war against Hamas, Gazan children attended schools run by UNWRA or Hamas, which used PA curriculum taught throughout the West Bank. Hamas went further and infused the next generation with its militant jihadist ideology and added courses like military training to its curriculum.
Palestinian children need an education system that abolishes hate from its curriculum. But this would require a government that wants to teach future generations how to build, not kill and destroy. Only then, when terrorists do not regulate student curriculum, could schools begin to teach students not to hate their neighbors.
Turning this ship seems near impossible, but an agreement between several Middle Eastern nations back in 2020 could pave the way for this to one day happen.
The Abraham Accords
In 2020, four countries followed Egypt and Jordan’s example and initiated a diplomatic process to normalize bilateral ties with Israel. These agreements, called the Abraham Accords—signed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco—would provide a pathway to the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict and a future of peace, tolerance, and opportunity in the Middle East. It is no coincidence that educational reform has followed these historic agreements.
These Muslim countries are beginning to teach the history of the Holocaust, recognizing the crimes of the Nazis. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will start teaching about the Holocaust in history classes in primary and secondary schools across the country. Bahrain’s King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence has committed to fighting antisemitism. Saudi Arabia has removed practically all antisemitism and anti-Israel material from its schoolbooks.
These governments want a peaceful coexistence that does not just happen at the governmental level but at the people-to-people level—and the first step in preparing their citizens for peace is reforming their educational systems.
The Dream of Peace in the Middle East
The elusive dream of peace in the Middle East could become a reality if more governments followed in the footsteps of the Abraham Accord countries to reform curriculum and teach peace. If Saudi Arabia should sign onto the Accord, they could then pressure the Palestinian Authority government to prepare their children for peaceful coexistence with Israel. This strengthening alliance for peace in the Middle East could even weaken the influence of the Iranian Shi’ite in the region.
That may all sound impossible today—but it doesn’t hurt to dream.