The executive board of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) today authorized an examination by experts of textbooks used in schools in the Middle East run by UNESCO and UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees). The board named Rene Maheu, director-general of the agency, to set up a commission for the task. Israeli, Egyptian and Lebanese board members joined in the unanimous decision.
UNESCO and UNRWA schools in the Middle East provide education for some 200,000 children and youths in refugee camps. Some of the textbooks used have been said to contain anti-Israel propaganda. (In Washington last week, Sen. George Murphy, California Republican, charged that Arab refugee children were being “steeped in hatred” for Israel and the West at the UNRWA schools which are financed mainly by the United States and asked the U.S. to stop it.
The Senator said that up to last June’s Six-Day War, the U.S. provided two-thirds of the UNRWA budget — $425 million out of $625 million. He cited a “math problem” in which “an Arab kills eight of 10 Israelis” and is asked how many Israelis are left.)
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