clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Israel attempts to wipe out Palestinian curriculum in Jerusalem

October 22, 2019 at 9:27 am

Palestinian children in school on 9 July 2019 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Up to 100,000 Palestinian students are facing the threat of using distorted schoolbooks in occupied Jerusalem, Deputy Palestinian Education Minister Basri Saleh said on Sunday.

According to Arab48, during a meeting held in Cairo, Basri said that the Israeli occupation has been working hard to impose the distorted Israeli narratives related to the history of Palestine and the conflict in the schoolbooks.

He also said that the Israeli occupation has been exerting efforts to impose the Israeli curriculum on Palestinian schools in occupied Jerusalem.

“Jerusalem is waiting intensified efforts from us,” he told the meeting, calling on the Arab League to address the urgent educational needs of Palestinians in Jerusalem.

READ: Right-wing Israeli activists block new school for Bedouin village

Basri also stressed on the importance of facing the “continuous Israeli aggression” on Jerusalem, mainly the aggression on the Palestinian syllabus.

“The Israeli occupation is still targeting Palestinian schools, teachers and students,” he said, noting that many of the Palestinian teachers and students had been detained and killed.

He also called for the importance of helping to maintain the UNRWA because it reflects the sustainability of the refugee issue.

In October last year, Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, announced that he plans to remove the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees from occupied East Jerusalem, accusing it of “operating illegally and promoting incitement against Israel”.

The Jerusalem Municipality also said UN schools, which serve about 1,800 students, would be closed. The municipality did not provide a specific time schedule for the closures.

READ: Israel Education Ministry to fund occupied West Bank school trips