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Dear Colleagues,

1. Arnon has looked closely at all the quotes from the Palestinian books. He is very familiar with the Palestinian books and I want to share his concerns and observations with all of you associated with the project. I have pasted below things that Arnon noted with concern were not in our data base of over 500 quotes from the Palestinian books, and comments from the research team.

1. Arnon: “Having skimmed through the material I noticed that some important quotes were missing (although I know that they had been studied), and please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm talking about the famous Hadith which describes the killing of the Jews by the Muslims at the End of Days. I encountered some other parts of the discussion which follow that Hadith in the book but the Hadith itself is missing.” Noble Hadith and its Studies, Grade 11, 1996, p. 200

Research team: We all agreed that the Holy Scriptures themselves were not to be studied, so the book above, the religious book of the Prophet’s Hadith,was not studied. Some Hadith are included when they are cited in other books as examples of a point being made in that book, thus some Hadith are among the quotes. Moreover, the book cited, Noble Hadith and its Studies, is not used in the PA schools. It is only used in the 8 small religious schools for Islamic Education attended by 700-800 students in total.

2. Arnon: “A chart showing the number of Palestine's inhabitants in 1999 includes the Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the "Interior" (a term evading the use of Israel's name in its pre-67 borders, in itself a means of de-legitimization) and the Diaspora, but not Israel's 5.5 million Jewish citizens, which has been considered by myself and by other researchers a clear sign of de-legitimization of the Jews' presence in the country – National Education, Grade 6, 2009, p. 10 (Book # 124).

Research Team: This is what we called an omission. These are very difficult to evaluate systematically since they require the researchers to have shared and considerable knowledge of history to notice when something is missing that should be there. We attempted to include such a section, but the data were too sketching to analyze. Thank you, Arnon, for this example. It is clearly consistent with our report that Israel is not on 95% of maps in the PA books, and the general absence of information about Israelis that we noted is so marked in the PA books.

3. Arnon: “In another piece Palestine appears as one of the states presently comprising the Levant region while Israel's name is omitted (which is, again, a sign of de-legitimization of its existence) – History of the Ancient Civilizations, Grade 5, 2009, p. 27 (Book # 119).

Research Team: This is a map of ancient history and the study analyzed only maps representing the region after 1967. Syria, Jordan and Lebanon were also absent from this map. The map is actually on page 26, not 27. 3.

4. Arnon: “The absence of any reference in the books to Jewish holy places in the country and the presentation of such places as Muslim holy places that the Jews attempt to Judaize (in this case the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem) should be considered, in my opinion, another manifestation of de-legitimization – National Education, Grade 7, 2010, p.55 (Book #200).”

Research Team: The absence of information about Jewish holy sites is a significant problem in PA books, and one documented in the report.

5. Arnon: “The "Green Line" is said to separate between the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1948 and that one that was occupied in 1967 (with the accompanying meaning that both should be liberated) – Modern and Contemporary History of Palestine, Grade 11, Part 2, 2007, p. 57 (Book # 81)”

Research Team: This particular map happens to be one of the few on which the name Israel is actually include and Jerusalem on this map is represented as part of Israel. What is written below the map is a definition of the Green Line. The analysis of maps in the report certainly provides numerous examples of the problems with maps!

6. Arnon: “ There is a highly demonizing literary piece saying: "Your enemies killed your children, split open your women's bellies, took your revered elderly men by the beard and led them to the death pits" – Reading and Texts, Grade 8, Part 2, 2007, p. 15 (Book # 185).”

Research team: This piece refers to the Al-Gadisiah war which took place in the 7^th century and did not involve the Jews. It was actually written by the Egyptian writer Mustafa Lutfi who lived from 1867 to 1924.

7. Arnon: “The following is a sentence indicating the continued violent struggle in Palestine: "Palestine is the land of Ribat (state of military readiness against the enemies of Islam) and Jihad" – Arabic Language: Reading, Literature and Critique, Grade 12, 2010, p. 108 (Book # 47).

Research team: This is a fairly typical quote in the national narrative, although this one does not specify an enemy.

8. Arnon: “A poem praising martyrdom and martyrs, with descriptions of blood and a corpse is also missing – Our Beautiful Language, Grade 7, Part 1, 2010, p. 75 (Book # 10).”

Research team: There are multiple references to martyrdom and other poems noted in the report. This one is not related to Jews or Israel explicitly while the ones we cite are.

9. Arnon: “And some examples from books that were not included in the study in the first place: An illustration showing a map of the whole country covered with the Palestinian flag – Mathematics, Grade 3, Part 1, 2010, p. 80.”

Research team: Yes, we did not include Mathematics books. Glad this is the most problematic thing in them. Again, we analyzed 100s of maps and the problem is clear.

10. Arnon: “A reproduced British Mandatory stamp from which the Hebrew inscription has been erased (which I and other researchers have considered a sign of de-legitimization of the Jews' national language) – National Education, Grade 2, Part 1, 2009, p. 7.”

Research team: Yes this stamp exists. It is part of the “omissions” section. We do not have any illustrations or photographs in the table of 500 quotes.

11. Arnon: “A de-humanizing poem verse saying: "How come that snakes invade us…" – Arabic Language: Linguistic Studies, Grade 12, 2010, p. 61.”

Research team: We have quite a number of poems in the report and data base that are part of the national narrative. This one does not refer to Israel or Jews, and the RAs were trained to limit inferences and focus on clear statements. However, we can see how this could be seen as a dehumanizing reference to Israel.

12. Arnon: “Demonizing description of Zionism as racist and imperialist – History of the Modern and Contemporary World, Grade 10, 2010, p. 51.”

Research team: This is indeed part of the Palestinian national narrative. We provide multiple examples.

13. Arnon: “Demonizing description of the Jews' traits – Holy Koran and its Studies, Grade 11, 1996, p. 66 and also 115-17.”