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The Hamas–UNRWA Holocaust dispute erupted on 31 August 2009 when the militant Islamic movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, protested the inclusion of a course on human rights that speaks about the Holocaust in the eighth-grade curriculum of preparatory schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the territory. The United Nations agency responded by denying that the subject of the Holocaust was taught in its schools or was planned to be taught in its new curriculum.

Background
UNRWA runs 221 of more than 600 primary and secondary schools in the Gaza Strip, which has been ruled by Hamas since it seized control of the enclave in June 2007 by defeating Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces. According to the Associated Press, "Hamas has been trying to cement control over Gaza, while the U.N. agency is increasingly emerging as a shadow government, providing services to some 1 million of Gaza's 1.4 million people".

Holocaust denial is common in the Palestinian territories in general and in Gaza in particular, with many Palestinians apparently fearful that acknowledging the genocide would diminish recognition of their suffering or claims to an independent state. The Holocaust is not taught in U.N.-run schools for Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, nor is it taught in Palestinian government schools in the West Bank or Gaza.

Hamas protest
Protesting what it said were plans to teach eighth-graders in U.N. schools about the Holocaust, the Hamas-affiliated Popular Committee of Palestinian refugees sent an open letter to the chief of UNRWA offices calling the Holocaust "a lie made up by the Zionists" and demanding it to "immediately" erase the part that speaks about the Holocaust from the Palestinian pupils' curriculum. Husam Ahmed, the Popular Committee's coordinator in the Gaza Strip, said the material, which was to be included in a course on human rights, "was formed in a way that shows sympathy with the Jews."

The interior ministry of Hamas de facto government in Gaza said in a statement that "it expresses astonishment because UNRWA curriculum is talking about the Jewish Holocaust." "We reject teaching our pupils such thoughts that contradicts with our Palestinian beliefs," said the interior ministry statement, which called on the ministry of education "to check if such news is right."

The head of Hamas' education committee in Gaza, Abdul Rahman el-Jamal, said that the Holocaust was a "big lie". Meanwhile, Hamas Education Minister Muhammad Askol criticized UNRWA, saying it was not respecting Hamas's "sovereignty" over Gaza. He said he planned to ask for a meeting with agency officials to "assure the necessary coordination".

Hamas spiritual leader Yunis al-Astal said teaching children about the Nazi genocide of Jews would be "marketing a lie", and characterized the possible introduction of the subject into Gaza schools as a "war crime".

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that Hamas rejects any attempt to introduce the Holocaust into the curriculum as "a kind of normalization with Israel and an attempt to bridge the psychological gap between Israel and the Palestinians".

UNRWA response
UNRWA denied that it teaches the Holocaust in preparatory schools or that the Holocaust is included in the pupils' curriculum. Adnan Abu Hasna, the agency's spokesman in Gaza, said: "Such reports are totally untrue. The current curriculum that is taught to pupils at UNRWA schools doesn't contain any indication to the subject of the Holocaust". Regional Agency chief Karen Abu Zayd added: "I can refute allegations that U.N. school curriculum includes anything about the Holocaust. Anyone can have a look at the schoolbooks".

The agency also denied that it was planning to include the subject in its new curriculum. Mahmoud al-Hemdeyat, director of education department of UNRWA in the Gaza Strip, said: "UNRWA hasn't finished yet from finalizing the new curriculum... As far as I know, the curriculum doesn't include anything about the Holocaust".

Karen Abu Zayd suggested information about the Holocaust could be included in later years, but the curriculum being developed was still in draft stage. UNWRA's website mentions general plans to include the Holocaust. Agency chief in Gaza John Ging said he believes the dispute over the syllabus has more to do with attempts by Hamas to meddle in the U.N. organization's affairs than with the Holocaust. Ging added that he feels any human rights course is incomplete without discussing the Holocaust, but it would exceed UNWRA's mandate to write texts about the Holocaust and the Palestinian uprooting.

Criticism of UNRWA
The United Nations agency was criticized by various parties for its failure to include the Holocaust in its curriculum and for its denial that it was contemplating the introduction of the subject.

United States Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said in a statement that "by disconnecting the Holocaust from human rights, (the U.N. agency) is highlighting the antisemitic bias that pervades the U.N. system."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center called for the dismissal of Abu Zayd and Ging and demanded the United States and Canada suspend funding for the U.N. agency pending the resolution of the issue. The United States was the second-largest donor to the agency in 2008, providing nearly $96 million of its $541.8 million budget.

The American Jewish Congress said in a statement: "It is... discouraging... that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency did not criticize Hamas for denying the children of Gaza knowledge of one of the central events of the 20th century. Instead, it rushed to deny that the Holocaust was being taught in its schools or that it was contemplating teaching it in the future".

Other responses
Jihad Zakarneh, the deputy education minister in the West Bank, said teaching Palestinian children about the Holocaust has to wait until there is a peace agreement with Israel. "When Israel ends its occupation of our land and our people and gives us our right of independence and self-determination, then we discuss this issue with them".