[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 194 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 194
Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the failure of the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority to properly implement
education reforms aimed at reducing the cultural roots of terrorism.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 26, 2007
Mr. King of New York submitted the following concurrent resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the failure of the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority to properly implement
education reforms aimed at reducing the cultural roots of terrorism.
Whereas the curriculum in many countries in the Middle East continues to promote
hatred, intolerance, violence, incitement, so-called ``martyrdom'', and
anti-Semitic and anti-democratic views;
Whereas the events of September 11, 2001, and the global rash of terrorist
attacks since then, have created an urgent need to promote moderate
voices in the Muslim world as an effective way to combat extremism and
terrorism;
Whereas the Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon
the United States (the 9/11 Commission report) supports the
implementation of diplomacy measures, including education reform, as
necessary steps in addressing the global struggle against terrorism and
the promotion of democracy in the Middle East;
Whereas extremism endangers the stability of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the
Middle East region, and threatens global security;
Whereas Wahhabism--as it is taught and presented in the documents of its
ideologues, cadres and supporters--is a radical and fundamentalist
Islamist ideology which advocates a narrow and rigid interpretation of
Quranic texts and divides the world between believers and nonbelievers
(including Muslim non-Wahhabists), who are seen as the enemy and those
to be dealt with through ``jihad'';
Whereas the religious curriculum in the Saudi school system is written,
monitored, and taught by followers of the Wahhabi interpretation of
Islam, the only religion Saudi Arabia allows to be taught;
Whereas Saudi Wahhabism is seeking to spread its extremist ideology throughout
the world and to influence Muslim education globally;
Whereas Saudi embassies in the United States and abroad distribute the Wahhabi-
inspired textbooks that are taught in Saudi schools;
Whereas Saudi Arabia has tolerated elements within its education system that
promote and encourage extremism;
Whereas textbooks in Saudi Arabian schools foster intolerance, anti-Semitic,
anti-American, and anti-Western views;
Whereas Saudi Arabian textbooks express the Wahhabi dual vision of the world,
the idea that anyone who does not practice Wahhabi Islam is the
``other'' and should be viewed as the enemy, and such a doctrine,
describing all non Wahhabis as Kuffars (infidels) is predominant in the
educational public sphere;
Whereas the intolerant Wahhabi views instilled in students make them prime
recruiting targets of terrorists and other extremist groups;
Whereas as long as Wahhabism is being taught in schools, Saudi children will be
indoctrinated into terror and inspired to commit jihad in the name of
Islam;
Whereas rote exclusive memorization of religious texts continues to be a central
feature of much of the educational system of Saudi Arabia, leaving
thousands of students unprepared to function in the global society and
economy of the 21st century;
Whereas the Government of Saudi Arabia has made public statements pledging
educational reforms;
Whereas Saudi Arabia has now admitted that the necessary educational reforms
have not yet been implemented;
Whereas if the reform process is not accelerated, the Saudi educational system
could produce another generation of jihadi inspired terrorists;
Whereas several Saudi intellectuals have come out in favor of reforms and tried
to pressure the monarchy to reform the educational system;
Whereas in March 2004, Saudi Arabia detained and imprisoned several democratic
reformers for criticizing the strict religious environment and the slow
pace of reform in Saudi Arabia;
Whereas the 9/11 Commission report states, ``Education that teaches tolerance,
the dignity and value of each individual, and respect for different
beliefs is a key element in any global strategy to eliminate Islamist
terrorism.'';
Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has
reported that Saudi Arabian Government-funded textbooks used both in
Saudi Arabia and also in North American Islamic schools and mosques have
been found to encourage incitement to violence against non-Muslims;
Whereas a report released on January 28, 2005, by Freedom House's Center for
Religious Freedom found that Saudi Arabia is the state most responsible
for the propagation of material promoting hatred, intolerance, and
violence within United States mosques and Islamic centers, and that
these publications are often official publications of a Saudi ministry
or distributed by the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC;
Whereas the Department of State has revoked the diplomatic visas of at least
sixteen people with Saudi diplomatic credentials in an effort to curb
the spread of inciteful, extremist Wahhabi rhetoric and doctrine in
United States schools and mosques;
Whereas in 2006 the United States House of Representatives adopted House
Concurrent Resolution 275 (109th Congress), which encouraged Saudi
Arabia to reform its educational curriculum;
Whereas education reform in the Palestinian Authority must take place before any
lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace will ever be achieved, and for a true
democracy to flourish in a future Palestinian state;
Whereas the 1993 Declaration of Principles, which laid the foundation for the
1995 Oslo II Agreement, specifically provides that ``Israel and the
Palestinian Authority shall seek to foster mutual understanding and
tolerance and shall accordingly abstain from incitement, including
hostile propaganda against each other and shall take necessary measures
to prevent such incitement by any organizations, groups or individuals
within their jurisdiction.'';
Whereas phase I of the ``Performance-Based Roadmap to a permanent two-state
solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict'' calls on all official
Palestinian and Israeli institutions to end all forms of violence and
incitement;
Whereas despite the Palestinian Authority's recognition of Israel in the Oslo
Agreement, Israel is virtually nonexistent in texts, graphics, and
illustrations distributed by the Palestinian Authority;
Whereas Palestinian textbooks continue to reject Israel's right to exist and
assert that the conflict with Israel is a religious jihad in the name of
Islam;
Whereas textbooks distributed by the Palestinian Authority affirm the
significance of martyrdom (in the sense of Istishaad, or militant
suicide) and how important the honor of becoming a martyr is;
Whereas textbooks distributed by the Palestinian Authority encourage students to
kill Israeli military and civilians as part of an Islamic holy war;
Whereas not only do Palestinian textbooks justify Palestinian use of terrorism
against Israel, they also justify Hezbollah's terrorist activities and
claim that it is a ``rightful resistance movement'';
Whereas textbooks distributed by the Palestinian authority contain anti-American
rhetoric that portrays the United States as an enemy of the Palestinians
and the greater Arab world, and teaches that the United States is a
human rights abuser and a violator of international humanitarian law,
hence encouraging violence against the United States;
Whereas the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly produced new educational
textbooks for their curriculum, yet many contain the same messages of
anti-Semitism and intolerance;
Whereas if education reforms are not implemented by the Palestinian Authority, a
new generation of Palestinians will be indoctrinated with the message of
hatred and terror; and
Whereas the Palestinian Authority's refusal to recognize Israel in Palestinian
textbooks, and its continual application of inciteful, intolerant
dialogue in the textbooks raises questions about its desire for peaceful
relations with Israel: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That the Congress--
(1) expresses extreme disappointment with the slow pace of
education reform in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the sense
that continual delay of reform implementations should not be
accepted;
(2) urges Saudi Arabia to reform its textbooks and
education curriculum in a manner that promotes tolerance and
peaceful coexistence with others, develops civil society, and
encourages functionality in the global economy;
(3) urges Saudi Arabia to increase the number of hours
spent on fundamental disciplines such as math, science and the
humanities in relation to the number of hours spent on
religious education in schools;
(4) requests the Secretary of State to monitor the progress
of the efforts to reform the Saudi education curriculum, and
report on such progress, in classified form if necessary, to
Congress;
(5) encourages moderate Muslim leaders to speak out against
any elements of extremism within the Saudi educational system;
(6) urges Saudi Arabia to cease teaching Wahhabism and
instead find an alternate, more benign form of Islamic
teaching, that promotes tolerance and acceptance;
(7) urges Saudi Arabia to immediately reform the curriculum
which Saudi embassies are distributing internationally,
specifically the textbooks which the embassies are distributing
to Saudi schools, including those within the United States;
(8) urges the Palestinian Authority to remove any inciteful
dialogue about martyrdom and jihad from textbooks, and to
remove any anti-Semitic references or passages from their
textbooks;
(9) urges the Palestinian Authority to officially recognize
and accept Israel in maps and educational texts, and to include
dialogue which promotes peaceful and tolerant relations with
Israel in their textbooks;
(10) expresses the need for the Palestinian Authority to
implement the necessary education reforms, and the sense that
such reforms would ultimately allow a lasting peace with Israel
to finally be achieved; and
(11) expresses the sense that educational reforms in Saudi
Arabia and the Palestinian Authority are a necessary step in
the global struggle against terrorism.
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