Abstract

This essay is aimed at exploring, through a complex and comprehensive approach that is based on the original sources in Arabic, the intricate intersection between education, politics, nationalism and occupation in the Palestinian society. In the article the schoolbooks published by the Palestinian Authority since 2000 are examined in order to investigate how politics - the biggest manipulator of memory - uses the educational system - and especially the school curriculum - to transmit certain narratives and versions of history, to implement processes of identity construction, to promote certain perceptions of the Self and the Other and to encourage individual and collective responsibilities towards the community and the confl ict. A tentative analysis of the key-factors related to the Israeli occupation and of the concepts of resistance, martyrdom and jihad explores to what extent schoolbooks in Palestine contribute to spreading a peace and toleranceoriented culture among the youth.