Islam and Human Rights Values

"We have done our utmost in developing these materials to be sensitive to local values while also being true to the universal values that underpin the work of the United Nations."
"[There are] no plans to change education programs in Gaza."
Chris Gunness, UNRWA spokesman

The Hamas-operated Education Ministry in Gaza explained through a spokesman that its government believes the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians has gone too far in ignoring Palestinian cultural mores. UNRWA's focus on "peaceful" means of conflict resolution ignores the values set out in the Koran, above all. The UNRWA curriculum is "not a match for the local ideology and philosophy".

These are textbooks in contention, used for grades 7 through to 9, and the objection is that they do not address Palestinian suffering sufficiently. Nor do the texts make adequate acknowledgement of the 'right to conflict' with Israel. "There is a tremendous focus on the peaceful resistance as the only tool to achieve freedom and independence", protested Motesem Al-Minawi, spokesman for the Education Ministry in Gaza.

"Armed resistance", remains a key component of the Hamas 'struggle' against Israel. That "armed resistance" has led to the glorious success realized when Hamas was able to kill hundreds of Israelis in attacks, inclusive of suicide bombings committed by dedicated martyrs for the greater cause of Palestinian unity and defeat of the Israeli state, enabling recapture of the geography for Arab Palestinians.

What's more, the inclusion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved by the UN General Assembly in 1948, and which constitutes the pinnacle of United Nations values, with its emphasis on "the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family" represents a special anathema to the Hamas Palestinian leadership.

The declaration itself represents a violation of Islamic law. Reflecting the right of people of different faiths to marry, and the right to change one's religion; blasphemous sedition of Islamic principles. In their wish to express their distress over the matter, Hamas government officials met with those of the UN Relief &Works Agency with an offer to form a joint committee for the purpose of revising the textbooks.

UNRWA operates about 245 schools in Gaza, giving educational service to over 232,000 students. They also run dozens of medical clinics. The agency distributes food to many of the territory's 1.7-million residents. This is hardly the first time Hamas has stridently disagreed with UNRWA. The UN was previously pressed not to organize mixed folkloric dancing for boys and girls.

And, above all, to ensure that Holocaust education is strictly kept out of its curriculum