Hamas fights UN's 'poisonous' Holocaust lessons in Gazan schools

More than 200,000 children attend UNRWA schools in Gaza. Photograph: Olivier Laban-Mattei/AFP/Getty Images 

slamist group says it will do all it can to prevent inclusion of Holocaust in human rights curriculum at UN-run schools

• Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 February 2011 12.57 GMT
• Article history

Hamas has vowed to stop the United Nations teaching children in Gaza about the Holocaust, saying it will poison their minds.

The history of the Holocaust is planned to be included as part of a human rights curriculum in schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency, which is responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees. More than 200,000 children attend UNRWA schools in Gaza.

Hamas, the Islamist organisation that runs Gaza, has said it will do all it can to stop the teaching of Holocaust studies.

"We cannot agree to a programme that is intended to poison the minds of our children," said a statement from the ministry for refugee affairs.

"Holocaust studies in refugee camps is a contemptible plot and serves the Zionist entity with a goal of creating a reality and telling stories in order to justify acts of slaughter against the Palestinian people."

It said UNRWA should focus on the human rights of Palestinian refugees.

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