Israelis and Palestinians have taken divergent paths in educating their populations about each other. The Israelis have made great efforts to foster tolerance and reconciliation, including introducing Arabic courses and peace education in schools, as well as offering Palestinian perspectives in newly written Israeli history textbooks.

Similarly, Israelis overwhelmingly deplored the murderous attack by Baruch Goldstein against Muslim worshippers and have strongly opposed the actions of a small group who afterwards erected a shrine at Goldstein's gravesite. Indeed, the Knesset voted to outlaw this kind of shrine and it has been demolished by the government.

But Palestinian leaders have not taken similar measures among their own people to promote tolerance for Israelis. Quite the opposite; Palestinians continue to demonize Jews and Israelis in state-controlled papers, mosques, textbooks and speeches. Among recent examples:

On 12/28/99, a grossly anti-Semitic cartoon appeared on the editorial page of Al Hayat Al-Jadida, the official daily paper published by the Palestinian Authority. It showed three people: an elderly man labeled "The 20th Century," a young man labeled "The 21st Century," and between them a dwarf-size, ugly, hook-nosed man wearing a kipah (skullcap) and a Star of David, labeled "The Disease of the Century."

Also on 12/28/99, the same official PA newspaper lauded Yehiya Ayyash, the notorious Palestinian bombmaker responsible for the death of more than 50 people and the injuring of more than 300. He was memorialized as "Martyr of the Day."

In an 11/11/99 speech, Yasser Arafat's wife, Suha, publicly accused Israel of intentionally using toxic gases to cause cancer in Palestinian women and children and of poisoning 80% of Palestinian water sources.