Israel targets Jerusalem’s education system to erase Palestinian identity: Palestinian education ministry

The Palestinian Education and Higher Education Ministry warned on Tuesday that Israel is systematically targeting education in occupied East Jerusalem to “erase national identity,” including by imposing its curriculum and barring teachers from schools, Anadolu reports.

On Monday, the Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate warned that, with the start of the academic year on Tuesday, Israel would begin imposing the Israeli curriculum on more than 45,000 Palestinian first- and seventh-grade students at schools run by the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem.

Earlier Tuesday, several private schools in Jerusalem, including Christian schools, went on strike as the new academic year began, protesting Israeli authorities’ failure to issue entry permits to teachers from the West Bank working at those schools.

In a statement, the Palestinian Education and Higher Education Ministry said developments concerning Israeli practices targeting education in Jerusalem were part of a “systematic and ongoing” campaign against the educational process.

It stressed that Palestinian students’ right in Jerusalem to education and to study the national curriculum is an “inalienable right guaranteed by international conventions and agreements.”

The ministry said Israeli authorities had prevented a number of male and female teachers and education staff from reaching their schools, particularly Christian schools, due to the failure to renew their entry permits.

It added that this prevented education staff from reaching their schools, directly affecting the regular start of the academic year.

READ: All Christian schools in Jerusalem suspend classes as Israel denies permits to over 70 teachers, staff

The ministry said Israeli measures had also affected schools run by the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees and the national curriculum, in addition to preventing the construction of school buildings.

It called on the international community to take urgent action and exert pressure to halt these measures.

The ministry affirmed that it would continue following up on the issue with relevant parties and work to ensure the regular provision of education in Jerusalem schools and protect Palestinian students’ right to education.

Israel requires Palestinians from the West Bank to obtain special permits to enter occupied East Jerusalem, including for work, education, medical treatment and worship. The issuance of these permits is subject to strict restrictions and security procedures, and not all applicants receive them.

Since October 2023, Israel has obstructed the issuance of permits for Palestinian workers from the West Bank, including teachers, amid the genocide it has been carrying out in Gaza.

In January 2026, the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, passed a law banning the employment in the Israeli education system of teachers who obtained their academic degrees from institutions affiliated with the Palestinian Authority.

According to an earlier report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, implementation of the law directly affects the availability of teachers in occupied East Jerusalem, where around 6,700 teachers work in the city’s Arab education system, at least 60 percent of whom hold bachelor’s degrees from Palestinian academic institutions.