A statement published by one of the organizations asserts that imposing the Israeli curriculum on over 45,000 students in Jerusalem constitutes a systematic attack on the identity of Jerusalem's generations and a violation of international law.
A representative of this organization, Marouf Al Rifai, warned in a message about 'serious consequences' of the Israeli authorities' decision to introduce the Israeli curriculum into all new first and seventh-grade courses starting tomorrow in the state schools of East Jerusalem.
Al Rifai expressed regret, stating that this infringes upon the right of Jerusalem's students to receive an education based on curricula that reflect their history, national culture, and distinctiveness.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, by the 2026-2027 academic year, approximately 39,363 Palestinian students will be attending classes under the Israeli program in 105 municipal schools.
The total number of affected students, according to the Jerusalem Municipality, will exceed 45,000, which accounts for approximately 38% of the total around 120,000 students in East Jerusalem.
After Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem in 1980, the education system in the Palestinian areas of the city continued to follow the West Bank curriculum, which was originally based on the Jordanian curriculum and later replaced by the Palestinian one.
Haaretz also reports that in upper primary and secondary school grades (from second to sixth and from eighth to twelfth, respectively), some subjects will continue to use the Palestinian curriculum, and this will continue in private schools and centers not officially recognized by Israel.