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Israel to Enforce Curriculum on Over 45,000 Palestinian Pupils
(MENAFN) Israel will require more than 45,000 Palestinian students in occupied East Jerusalem to follow the Israeli curriculum starting in the 2026-27 school year, a Palestinian official said Monday, cautioning that the policy strikes at the national and cultural identity of generations of Palestinians in the city.
Jerusalem Governorate spokesperson Maarouf al-Rifai said the curriculum shift will take effect Tuesday across all new classes in Israeli-run municipal schools in East Jerusalem, spanning grades from first through seventh.
He characterized the decision as a "dangerous and unprecedented escalation since 1967," calling it a direct assault on the national and cultural identity of Palestinian students in the city.
According to al-Rifai, the move is part of a broader "systematic policy" aimed at Palestinian education in Jerusalem, designed to replace the Palestinian curriculum with an Israeli narrative.
Drawing on figures published by an Israeli newspaper, he said 39,363 Palestinian students across 105 municipal schools will be taught the Israeli curriculum this academic year, joined by 5,085 students at institutions classified as "recognized but unofficial." Combined, the figure surpasses 45,000 — roughly 38% of the nearly 120,000 Palestinian students in East Jerusalem.
The numbers have climbed steeply in recent years, al-Rifai noted, rising from 10,347 students in the 2020-21 school year to 19,402 in 2024-25, then 27,041 the following year.
He attributed the trend to sustained Israeli pressure on Palestinian educational institutions, including measures aimed at school leadership and funding conditions tied to curriculum compliance.
Al-Rifai also pointed to Israel's takeover of two educational compounds formerly run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, in the Shuafat and Kafr Aqab refugee camps. Israeli authorities reportedly intend to open 14 secondary-school classes, an elementary school and five kindergartens at the Shuafat site, along with a boys' secondary school at Kafr Aqab.
Imposing an occupying power's curriculum on residents of an occupied city, al-Rifai argued, amounts to a "serious violation of international humanitarian law." He said the Fourth Geneva Convention obligates occupying powers to protect civilians — including children — and to preserve the functioning of educational institutions.
The official framed the issue as far more than a bureaucratic or academic change, saying it strikes directly at Palestinian "awareness, memory and national identity." He accused Israeli authorities of stripping or downplaying curriculum content tied to Palestinian history, including the Nakba, prisoners' issues and Jerusalem itself.
Al-Rifai urged UNESCO, United Nations agencies and other international bodies to step in to halt the measures and safeguard both Palestinian schools and the right to education.
He said Palestinians' insistence on their own curriculum reflects "a defense of memory, identity, history and the right to determine the national narrative," not simply loyalty to a textbook.
Jerusalem Governorate spokesperson Maarouf al-Rifai said the curriculum shift will take effect Tuesday across all new classes in Israeli-run municipal schools in East Jerusalem, spanning grades from first through seventh.
He characterized the decision as a "dangerous and unprecedented escalation since 1967," calling it a direct assault on the national and cultural identity of Palestinian students in the city.
According to al-Rifai, the move is part of a broader "systematic policy" aimed at Palestinian education in Jerusalem, designed to replace the Palestinian curriculum with an Israeli narrative.
Drawing on figures published by an Israeli newspaper, he said 39,363 Palestinian students across 105 municipal schools will be taught the Israeli curriculum this academic year, joined by 5,085 students at institutions classified as "recognized but unofficial." Combined, the figure surpasses 45,000 — roughly 38% of the nearly 120,000 Palestinian students in East Jerusalem.
The numbers have climbed steeply in recent years, al-Rifai noted, rising from 10,347 students in the 2020-21 school year to 19,402 in 2024-25, then 27,041 the following year.
He attributed the trend to sustained Israeli pressure on Palestinian educational institutions, including measures aimed at school leadership and funding conditions tied to curriculum compliance.
Al-Rifai also pointed to Israel's takeover of two educational compounds formerly run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, in the Shuafat and Kafr Aqab refugee camps. Israeli authorities reportedly intend to open 14 secondary-school classes, an elementary school and five kindergartens at the Shuafat site, along with a boys' secondary school at Kafr Aqab.
Imposing an occupying power's curriculum on residents of an occupied city, al-Rifai argued, amounts to a "serious violation of international humanitarian law." He said the Fourth Geneva Convention obligates occupying powers to protect civilians — including children — and to preserve the functioning of educational institutions.
The official framed the issue as far more than a bureaucratic or academic change, saying it strikes directly at Palestinian "awareness, memory and national identity." He accused Israeli authorities of stripping or downplaying curriculum content tied to Palestinian history, including the Nakba, prisoners' issues and Jerusalem itself.
Al-Rifai urged UNESCO, United Nations agencies and other international bodies to step in to halt the measures and safeguard both Palestinian schools and the right to education.
He said Palestinians' insistence on their own curriculum reflects "a defense of memory, identity, history and the right to determine the national narrative," not simply loyalty to a textbook.
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