Israeli authorities have begun implementing their curriculum in public schools in East Jerusalem, affecting over 45,000 Palestinian students. These actions are part of a broader campaign to tighten control over education in the occupied part of the city.
Under the new measures, starting Tuesday, approximately 38 percent of all Palestinian students will study according to the Israeli program instead of the Palestinian one. This applies to all new first and seventh-grade classes opening in the public education system of East Jerusalem.
Marouf al-Rifai, press secretary of the Jerusalem Governorate of the Palestinian Authority, stated that this decision represents a dangerous escalation, unprecedented since 1967 when Israel occupied East Jerusalem. He characterized the imposition of the Israeli curriculum as a direct attack on the national and cultural identity of Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Al-Rifai emphasized that this is particularly dangerous given the marginalization of 'fundamental topics concerning the Palestinian narrative and history—especially the Nakba, prisoners, and Jerusalem.' He noted that this means 'turning the curriculum into a battleground for consciousness, memory, and identity in the city,' and that this decision is part of a 'systematic policy aimed against the Palestinian education sector in Jerusalem.'
The introduction of the Israeli program for a larger number of Palestinian students comes amid plans by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the ultra-right Minister of National Security, to distribute a children's book dedicated to his 'activities and achievements' in Israeli educational institutions. This book, titled 'The Minister Who Did Not Stop,' was scheduled to be presented on Tuesday, the day the school year begins in Israel, at the conference of the Ben-Gvir party 'Jewish Power.'