No Identity, No Homeland: How the UAE Is Pressuring to Rewrite Palestinian Curricula

Just like it did with its own education system after normalizing ties with “Israel,” the UAE is now pushing for changes to the Palestinian curriculum, claiming it contains “incitement” against Tel Aviv because it doesn’t recognize “Israel” on the map of Palestine.

The UAE has embraced the Israeli Occupation’s long-standing narrative that paints Palestinian textbooks as a source of “incitement”—a move widely seen as part of a broader effort to reengineer Palestinian identity and reshape historical memory.

Since signing the normalization agreement with Tel Aviv in 2020, Abu Dhabi appears to have fully embraced this view and is now pressuring the Palestinians to dismantle their educational system.

‘Removing Incitement’

U.S. President Donald Trump discussed a Gulf-led initiative, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, to end the Israeli war on Gaza, Israel Hayom reported on May 14, 2025.

During his four-day visit to the Gulf, Trump explored a joint Saudi-Emirati initiative that includes “the immediate release of Israeli captives, disarmament of Hamas, Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, and reconstruction of the Strip under international supervision.”

The proposal was reportedly introduced by the Israeli Occupation’s closest ally in the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates, led by Mohamed bin Zayed and his brother, Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed.

One of the most striking elements of the initiative, according to the report, was the UAE’s insistence on a complete overhaul of the Palestinian education system, which must be “cleansed of incitement against Israel.”

Israel Hayom noted that a similar process was carried out in Saudi Arabia’s education system, adding that both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi would oversee the proposed changes.

This condition was part of a broader clause calling for deep reforms within the Palestinian Authority aimed at curbing corruption—something the UAE and Saudi Arabia have long demanded in return for political and financial support.

It’s also worth noting that former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni referenced the UAE during a speech at an Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference on March 7, 2024.

She stated that the Palestinian Authority cooperates with “Israel” on security, which is positive, but “we want further changes,” including full recognition of “Israel,” a ban on Hamas participation in elections, and reform of the education system.

The UAE can help drive change in Palestinian education because they’re truly opinion leaders in combating extremism, according to Livni.

Since signing the Abraham Accords, the UAE has evolved from a regional partner in normalization to a full strategic ally of “Israel,” expanding its cooperation in intelligence, economics, media, and other sectors.

Today, Palestinians believe the Gulf state is attempting to penetrate the heart of Palestinian society through its education system — a cornerstone of national consciousness.

While the Emirati campaign is framed in terms like “tolerance” and “coexistence,” as reflected in its updated curriculum, it ultimately serves a more dangerous aim: the gradual erasure of Palestinian national identity.

Commenting on the Israeli leaks, the opposition platform Emirates Leaks wrote in mid-May that what Abu Dhabi is seeking is not simply an “educational reform,” but a re-engineering of Palestinian awareness aligned with the Zionist narrative.

“The UAE is trying to exploit the current situation to push its agenda,” the outlet said, “under the pretext of ‘developing’ Palestinian education in line with international standards.”

However, according to the platform, those standards have little to do with educational quality and more to do with stripping the curriculum of its national content.

The UAE’s intervention in the education sector is part of a broader effort to fragment the Palestinian cause, turning it into isolated service-related issues disconnected from its core political essence.

Conditions and Pressure

The UAE is not only adopting this approach but is also pressuring international donors to link future aid to the removal of what it describes as “incitement materials” from Palestinian curricula, according to informed sources.

This refers to content addressing the 1948 Nakba, the occupation, the right of return for refugees, and even the legitimacy of Palestinian Resistance.

Sources note this is not the first time aid has been used as a tool for political leverage — what’s new is that Abu Dhabi is now playing this role on the Israeli Occupation’s behalf, using its financial influence to pressure the Palestinian Authority, which is facing a severe fiscal crisis.

This theory is reinforced by the UAE’s stated refusal to support the PA without reforms, beginning with politics and extending to education.

The current Israeli war on Gaza has marked a new chapter in Abu Dhabi’s accusations against Mahmoud Abbas’s leadership — blaming it for corruption, mismanagement, and its inability to govern Gaza.

Just a year earlier, tensions escalated between Emirati and Palestinian officials during a high-level meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, reflecting deepening divisions over how the Palestinian issue should be managed.

According to Axios, five different sources confirmed that a heated argument broke out at the April 29, 2024, meeting of senior Arab officials in Riyadh.

The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE, alongside top Palestinian diplomat and current vice president Hussein al-Sheikh, as well as former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The purpose was to discuss a shared strategy for the post-war phase in Gaza. But according to the sources, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed called the PA leadership “thieves.”

Al-Sheikh complained about the lack of sufficient political and financial support, despite Ramallah implementing some reforms requested by Washington and Arab states and forming a new government.

In response, bin Zayed reportedly said the PA had yet to implement any meaningful reforms, comparing its leadership to “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” and describing PA officials in Ramallah as “so useless they could all be replaced and no one would notice.”

During the Arab League summit in Bahrain in May 2024, decisions on financial support for the PA were revised following a sharply worded objection from the UAE.

According to Lebanon’s Almodon newspaper, a Palestinian official revealed on May 17, 2024, that tensions arose after the UAE pushed to amend the summit resolution regarding a “financial safety net” for the PA. Abu Dhabi reportedly insisted that any UAE contribution must be conditional on the formation of a “transparent and clean government.”

Alignment and Distortion

The UAE’s approach aligns closely with that of the European Union, which has for years pushed for changes to the Palestinian curriculum under Israeli pressure, citing allegations of “antisemitism”—a label “Israel” routinely applies to those who oppose its occupation and settlement policies.

On May 7, 2025, the European Parliament voted for the sixth consecutive year in favor of a series of resolutions strongly condemning Palestinian textbooks used by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas.

The resolution claimed that the materials contain antisemitism, incitement to violence, hate speech, and glorification of terrorism, a narrative initially promoted by “Israel” and later adopted by the UAE.

In response, the European Parliament voted to freeze financial aid to the PA over what it described as continued incitement in the curriculum. While the resolution is non-binding for EU member states, it sends a clear political message.

It also called for withholding EU funding from the PA as long as the curriculum fails to meet UNESCO standards and retains antisemitic references or examples that promote hatred and violence.

For the first time, the Parliament set a deadline for curriculum changes, requiring the removal of what it called “incitement content” before the new academic year begins in September 2025, and made continued aid conditional on tangible reforms.

In July 2024, the European Commission officially announced that aid to the PA would now be contingent on reforming its textbooks, marking a policy shift.

Israeli Occupation’s attempts to reshape Palestinian curricula date back to its occupation of Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank in 1967, when it began reprinting textbooks issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Education after deleting nationalist content and inserting altered narratives.

In previous statements, the Palestinian Ministry of Education accused Israeli authorities of “distorting textbooks at will, reprinting them with falsified content, and retaining the original authors’ names”—a violation for which legal action is being pursued.

The Ministry further stated that “Israel” is waging an unprecedented and aggressive campaign against Palestinian education in Occupied Jerusalem in particular, as part of its broader annexation agenda and efforts to erase Palestinian identity—physically, spiritually, and culturally.

The UAE has echoed and contributed to this effort, especially after normalizing ties with “Israel,” by promoting a new educational narrative that reimagines “Israel” not as an occupying force, but as a “friendly state.”

In 2020, Ali Al Nuaimi, chairman of the Defense and Interior Affairs Committee of the UAE Federal National Council, stated that his country would revise its religious discourse and educational curricula “so that Israelis feel safe, accepted, and that they belong—that they are a natural part of the region.”

In the months that followed, social media users circulated images from the newly edited textbooks. The revisions were made in collaboration with the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), which is based in both Tel Aviv and London.

The updated curriculum included content on the Holocaust, recognition of the “historical presence of Jews in the Arab world,” and descriptions of “Israel” as a “peaceful and friendly nation.”