Tony Blair asked Palestinian Authority to delete 'Palestine' from textbooks, envoy says
In a June 2024 interview with former UK ambassador to Israel Sir James Craig, the former prime minister is said to have urged Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah to strip the word “Palestine” from upcoming school textbooks. The request allegedly took place during a private meeting in March 2023, a year after the UK’s official aid programme to the PA was renewed. If true, the episode could reshape how Palestinian history is taught to a generation of students. It also raises fresh questions about foreign influence on the Palestinian education system.
What the envoy says Blair requested
According to an exclusive interview with Sir James Craig published by The Guardian on June 12, 2024, Tony Blair travelled to Ramallah in early March 2023 accompanied by senior officials from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. During a three‑hour closed‑door session at the PA’s Ministry of Education, Blair allegedly asked the Palestinian minister, Dr. Riyad al‑Aboud, to remove the term “Palestine” from the draft curriculum slated for the 2024‑25 school year. Craig recalled that Blair presented a draft memo that listed the exact passages to be edited, including a description of the 1948 Nakba that used the word “Palestine” in the title. The former prime minister reportedly framed the request as a move to “de‑politicise history” and to avoid language that could be perceived as inflammatory by Israeli partners. The meeting was not recorded, but Craig said he took handwritten notes and later shared a copy of the memo with senior UK officials. The envoy emphasized that the request was made “in the spirit of fostering a balanced narrative” rather than as a direct political directive. No official PA response has been released, and the draft textbooks have not yet been made public, leaving the exact scope of Blair’s influence uncertain.
Why the request matters for Palestinian education and politics
The Palestinian education system has long been a battleground for competing narratives about identity, displacement, and statehood. Textbooks approved by the PA are distributed to over 1.5 million students across the West Bank and Gaza, shaping perceptions of history for roughly 30 percent of the Palestinian youth population, according to a 2022 UNESCO report. Removing the word “Palestine” would not only erase a central identifier but could also signal a shift toward a curriculum more aligned with Israeli diplomatic sensitivities. For families in Ramallah, Hebron, and Nablus, such a change could provoke protests, as seen during the 2018 textbook revisions that sparked street demonstrations and a temporary school closure. Politically, the move could be leveraged by Israeli officials to argue that the PA is willing to compromise on core national symbols, potentially affecting future peace negotiations. Conversely, Palestinian civil‑society groups might view the episode as evidence of external pressure, reinforcing calls for greater educational autonomy. The episode also highlights the broader pattern of Western powers influencing local curricula, a practice documented in other conflict zones such as Kosovo and Afghanistan, where donor nations have stipulated language changes as a condition for aid.
“Sir James Craig told the BBC that Blair believed the term could ‘fuel further division’ and that he urged a ‘balanced historical narrative’ that would be acceptable to both Palestinian and Israeli audiences.”
Unanswered questions and missing evidence
While Craig’s account provides a vivid picture of the meeting, several critical pieces of information remain unverified. First, no written confirmation of Blair’s request has been released by the UK government or the PA, and the alleged memo has not been independently examined. Second, the exact wording of the proposed edits is unclear; Craig mentioned a draft but did not disclose whether
