Crs Report for Congress Received through the Crs Web the Middle East Partnership Initiative : An Overview

By Sharp, Jeremy M.

Book Id: WPLBN0000233556
Format Type: PDF eBook
File Size: 0.1 MB
Reproduction Date: 2008

Title:	Crs Report for Congress Received through the Crs Web the Middle East Partnership Initiative : An Overview
Author:	Sharp, Jeremy M.
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Government publications, Legislation., Government Printing Office (U.S.)
Collections:	Government Library Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	Government Printing Office


Citation APA MLA Chicago Sharp, J. M. (n.d.). Crs Report for Congress Received through the Crs Web the Middle East Partnership Initiative : An Overview. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Excerpt
Excerpt: Socio-Economic Conditions in the Arab World: Underlying the four pillars of the Middle East Partnership Initiative is the stated desire of the Bush Administration to help improve living conditions in a region that has seen stagnant economic growth over several decades. Despite a region-wide 3.1% growth rate between 1991-2000, Middle Eastern economies face serious economic and social challenges. Arab countries combined generate only 1% of the world’s non-oil exports. According to the United Nations’ Arab Human Development Report 2002, 14 million Arab adults lack the job skills to provide enough income for even the most basic of necessities. From a demographic standpoint, many Arab countries continue to experience steep increases in their populations, which could lead to as many as 50 million more Arab workers crowding job markets in the next eight years. In addition, the Arab Human Development Report concluded that out of the seven world regions, the Arab countries had the lowest freedom score in the late 1990s. Many observers are concerned that slow growth, in conjunction with rapidly rising populations and restrictions on personal freedoms which vary from country to country, could lead to expanding regional instability in the years ahead.

Table of Contents
Contents Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Background: Palestinian Education and National Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Allegations & Countervailing Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Allegation 1: Negative Depictions of the “Other” in PA Textbooks . . . . . . . 7 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 “Israel & Israelis” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 “Jews” & “Judaism” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 “Zionist” & “Zionism” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Allegation 2: Historical Inaccuracy in PA Textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 “Historical Palestine” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Contemporary Palestinian History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Allegation 3: Geography and Non-Recognition of Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Allegation 4: Palestinian Islamism and Inciting Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Islamic Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Allegation 5: Limited Value Placed on Peace in Palestinian Textbooks . . . 14 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Peace & Civics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Possible Issues for Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Palestinian-Israeli Peace Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 U.S. Assistance to the West Bank and Gaza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 U.N. Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Promoting Reform in the Arab World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 List of Tables Table 1. Palestine Ministry of Education Textbook Release Dates . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Table 2. Summary Findings on Negative Depiction of the “Other” . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Table 3. Summary Findings on Historical Inaccuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Table 4. Summary Findings on Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Table 5. Summary Findings on Islam and Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Table 6: Summary Findings on Peace and Tolerance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14