Israel imposes curriculum on 45,000 Palestinian students in East Jerusalem

Israel imposes curriculum on 45,000 Palestinian students in East Jerusalem Israeli authorities are imposing their curriculum on more than 45,000 Palestinian students in state-run schools in East Jerusalem, as part of a wider crackdown on education in the occupied area of the city. The new measures mean that around 38 percent of all Palestinian students - a marked increase on recent years - will be taught the Israeli curriculum rather than the Palestinian one from Tuesday. This includes all new first grade and seventh grade classes opening in the state education system in East Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority's Jerusalem Governorate spokesperson Maarouf al-Rifai said the decision represented a dangerous escalation and one unprecedented since 1967, the year Israel occupied East Jerusalem. He called the move a direct attack on the Palestinian national and cultural identity of Jerusalem, saying the imposition of the Israeli curriculum was particularly dangerous given the marginalisation of “fundamental topics regarding the Palestinian narrative and history - foremost among them the Nakba, prisoners, and Jerusalem”. Al-Rifai said this meant “turning the curriculum into a battleground over consciousness, memory and identity in the city”, and that the decision was part of a “systematic policy targeting the Palestinian education sector in Jerusalem”. The move to impose Israel’s curriculum on yet more Palestinian students comes as Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right national security minister, plans to distribute a children’s book celebrating his “activities and achievements” to Israeli education institutions. The book, titled The Minister Who Didn’t Stop , was to be launched on Tuesday, the start of the Israeli school year, at Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power party conference. Read more: Israel imposes curriculum on 45,000 Palestinian students in East Jerusalem Palestinian schoolgirls at an Unrwa school in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem in May 2025 (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)