The occupation violates the right to education and decides to close 6 schools in Jerusalem

Written by: Attorney Ali Abu Hilal *

Within the framework of the policy of violating the right to education in occupied Jerusalem, the Israeli Ministry of Education issued, last Thursday 7/28/2022, a decision to revoke the licenses of 6 Palestinian schools in the city of Jerusalem, under the pretext of “incitement through the school curricula.” The schools are: the college Ibrahimiyyah, and all faith schools for boys and girls, primary and secondary

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The ministry stated that the school principals were summoned to a hearing, at the end of which it was decided, under the direction of Education Minister Shasha Biton, to withdraw the "permanent operation" license, and instead give the schools a conditional license for one year, in order to correct the contents of the books, and after The patch will be granted a perpetual license

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In a statement, the ministry revealed the examples that include "incitement in the curriculum", including talking about Palestinian prisoners, the occupation's obstacles to ambulances and preventing access to the injured, the water crisis and control of water sources from the occupation, and the Nakba and setback for the Palestinian people. The Ministry mentioned them, which are considered continuous and continuous grave violations of the occupation against the Palestinian people in Jerusalem and in the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories, and do not constitute incitement, but rather a realistic description of the practices and violations of the occupation.

The closure of these schools in Jerusalem constitutes a continuation of the violations of the occupation authorities against education, and its continuous policies of Judaizing the Holy City, and the familyization of education in it, which is a new and old policy, which it initiated since the first years of the occupation of the city.
In the framework of this policy, the Israeli occupation authorities closed in late November 2019 the office of the Directorate of Education in Jerusalem, and other Palestinian institutions working in the field of media and medical services. Under the pretext of carrying out illegal activities, according to the allegations of the occupation authorities. Years before that, the occupation authorities closed a large number of Palestinian institutions operating in Jerusalem, including the Orient House, the Chamber of Commerce, and other institutions working in the human rights, health, economic, social, media, and cultural sectors. The occupation that violates the right to education in Jerusalem The occupation adopts various methods with the aim of capturing the Palestinian curriculum, including deleting everything related to Palestinian national affiliation and adding materials that are in line with its occupation plans by changing the names of Palestinian cities, criminalizing language and national heritage, and deleting poetic verses and Quranic verses Which talks about jihad and martyrs. As for the second method that the occupation authorities resort to, it is allocating more than 20 million shekels to develop education in East Jerusalem at the level of educational facilities and infrastructure, provided that you study the Israeli curriculum, noting that the occupation government has allocated In 2018, an amount of two billion shekels was allocated to the families of East Jerusalem, of which 445 million shekels were allocated to the families of the education sector over the next five years, as part of a five-year plan aimed at raising the rate of Education according to the Israeli curriculum to 90% among Jerusalemite students during the next five years, and the threat to revoke the licenses of private schools that refuse to apply this curriculum, and to provide incentives to Jerusalemite students and facilitate their admission to Israeli universities if they choose to learn it, and this coincides with the occupation’s closure of the Education Directorate Palestinian education in the city of Jerusalem, and restrictions on the infrastructure of Palestinian schools in Jerusalem and preventing their expansion, in exchange for the occupation opening new schools belonging to it, and requiring the granting of a license to any modern school on its commitment to the Israeli matriculation, and targeting private schools by attempting to blackmail them with budgets to put pressure on them in this aspect. ,

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Confronting the occupation policy against education in Jerusalem requires a number of policies that should be adopted by the Palestinian Ministry of Education, either directly or indirectly. Before that, supporting vocational education and allocating a budget for its development and expansion, allocating full university scholarships by Palestinian universities for Tawjihi students in Jerusalem, which may be sponsored by the Palestinian Ministry of Education, in coordination with the Jerusalem Fund and Endowment and the Federation of Businessmen, and the use of Palestinian schools as community centers to support youth It should be emphasized that the issue of education in Jerusalem is an existential issue, which requires the State of Palestine and the Ministry of Education to give special attention to Jerusalem, and to allocate budgets, programs and projects that support the steadfastness of schools in the city. Jerusalem, in addition to the importance of raising the salaries of Palestinian teachers in Jerusalem, in a manner commensurate with the standard of living in order to preserve and develop the teaching staff, and to carry out A popular movement against imposing the Israeli curriculum and matriculation exams on schools, and confronting the phenomenon of storming and inspecting schools and summoning principals and principals for investigation, a phenomenon that has become remarkable in the context of the occupation’s dealings with educational institutions and their employees.

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* Lawyer and university lecturer in international law