Gulf Arab leaders have agreed to revise school textbooks which Washington claims fuel anti-Christian and anti-Jewish sentiments. The announcement came at the end of an annual meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - a political and military alliance grouping heavyweight Saudi Arabia with Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates - on Monday. The GCC has come under pressure from Washington since the September 11, 2001 attacks to reform school curricula. The educational reforms, stated in a treaty adopted by the leaders pledging to combat "terrorism", include removal from school textbooks of material describing followers of other religions as infidels and enemies of Islam. Critics say language exercises in Saudi schools have sometimes asked children to complete sentences like "God hates..." - the correct answer being "infidels".
| That's very... ummm... not subtle. |
A text used by 13 and 14-year-olds in Saudi Arabia used to call on Muslims not to befriend Christians and Jews because "emulation of the infidels leads to loving them". The passage was recently erased.
| "Yeah. Go ahead. But watch yourselves!" |
US officials, arguing that 15 of the September 11 hijackers were Saudis, have claimed such teaching lies behind the anti-Western sentiment that led to the attacks. The GCC said the educational reforms were based on a document presented by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah. |