How Israel is tightening its grip on Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem

Jamal Shalabi is a 66-year-old chemistry teacher living in el-Bireh, in the occupied West Bank, but since 1998 he has taught in occupied East Jerusalem, making the commute through Israeli checkpoints every day.

The process was tiring, but it allowed him to work. But he now fears that soon won’t be the case, after he was informed by his school’s administration that he was one of 180 Palestinian teachers whose travel permits allowing them entry into East Jerusalem would be revoked upon their expiry at the end of the 2026-27 academic year.

The denial of entry permits to teachers is one of the most prominent restrictions imposed by Israel on schools in East Jerusalem, which, like the West Bank, is illegally occupied Palestinian territory, but which Israel considers part of a unified Jerusalem under its control.

Permits were already a problem for teachers like Shalabi this year, when the issuance of documents was delayed until September 15, two weeks after the academic year began. Permits were also delayed last January. The delays in both January and September led to school strikes in East Jerusalem, a move intended to exert pressure and demonstrate a unified stance against these Israeli measures.

Shalabi explained that even when the permits are approved, they are severely restrictive. The documents can only be used during specific hours, which teachers are not permitted to exceed. The teachers are also prohibited from being anywhere other than the schools.

“These permit restrictions have been in place since the war on Gaza in 2023; we can no longer reach the Al-Aqsa Mosque to pray, nor can we accompany students on school field trips, as the permits are strictly limited to the workplace,” he explained.

“Moreover, for the first time, we were barred from entering Jerusalem for an entire week during the recent Jewish holiday of Sukkot,” he added.

Imposition of the Israeli curriculum

The permit restrictions come alongside wider measures affecting Palestinian education in East Jerusalem, including policies introduced under a plan approved by the Israeli government supposedly aimed at “reducing socioeconomic gaps” in East Jerusalem, whose population is majority Palestinian, despite Israeli efforts to increase the number of Jewish settlers.

The government plan also aims to increase the number of Palestinian students studying the Israeli curriculum. It does so by conditioning funding for new schools on the adoption of the Israeli curriculum, alongside programmes to train teachers within the Israeli education system.

A report by the Israeli human rights organisation Ir Amim warned that the policies exploit educational needs to undermine the autonomy of Palestinian education, as well as its national and cultural identity.

The report further warns of the repercussions of a law that prohibits the employment of teachers who hold university degrees from Palestinian educational institutions, a measure likely to exacerbate the existing shortage of teachers in East Jerusalem’s schools.

According to Ir Amim, approximately half of the education budget allocated under the Israeli government’s plan for East Jerusalem is directed towards expanding the teaching of the Israeli curriculum.

Furthermore, Israeli authorities make the adoption of this curriculum a prerequisite for the opening of new state-funded schools, which the organisation views as a form of pressure on both schools and parents to abandon the Palestinian curriculum.

The number of Palestinian students in East Jerusalem studying the Israeli curriculum was only in the hundreds 15 years ago. But by 2020, the figure had risen to more than 10,000.

The numbers have risen sharply since then. By 2024, it had risen to almost 20,000, according to Palestinian officials, and then to more than 27,000 the following year, according to figures cited by Ir Amim. Palestinian officials estimate that more than 45,000 students – approximately 38 percent of the total student population in the city – are now studying the Israeli curriculum in the 2026-27 academic year.

A principal of a school in East Jerusalem, who requested anonymity for fear of repercussions from Israeli authorities, told Al Jazeera that the expansion of the Israeli curriculum to tens of thousands of Palestinian students is the culmination of years of policies aimed at controlling education in East Jerusalem.

He argued that the situation represents an unprecedented threat to Palestinian education; the imposition of the Israeli curriculum is not merely an academic choice, but a policy designed to forcibly impose a new reality.

“This policy is not limited to official schools affiliated with the Israeli municipality; it also extends to private and community-based schools,” he added. “It involves [an attempt to replace the Palestinian curriculum] with a distorted version printed under the supervision of the municipality that erases and falsifies Palestinian history, geography, and national identity.”

The principal further explained that schools face direct threats, including the loss of funding, financial support, and operating licences if they refuse to introduce classes teaching the Israeli curriculum. This, he explained, was part of an Israeli five-year plan aimed at promoting the “Israelisation” of Palestinian education.

This included strict, rigorous oversight mechanisms, including on-site inspections and monitoring within classrooms, as well as the searching of students’ schoolbags to confiscate original Palestinian textbooks and prevent them from being taught.

“Israeli authorities intervene directly in the appointment of school principals and teachers, revoking the licences of those who don’t comply with their directives. Furthermore, this oversight extends to academic and personal persecution through targeting students, even for their personal social media posts or opinions, and employing disciplinary committees and police summonses to intimidate both staff and students,” the principal explained.

Al Jazeera has reached out to Israeli authorities, but has yet to receive a response.

Classroom shortage

Schools in East Jerusalem face a deficit of 2,283 classrooms, according to calculations by Ir Amim.

The organisation’s report warns that even if the Jerusalem Municipality’s plans to construct new classrooms are fully implemented, the crisis will not be resolved; a shortfall of approximately 1,100 classrooms is projected to persist by 2032.

For its part, the municipality estimates the current shortage at about 1,500 classrooms, a figure Ir Amim disputes because it says the calculation relies on outdated data.

Ramadan Awad, spokesperson for the Union of Parents’ Committees for Jerusalem Schools, told Al Jazeera that some classrooms contain as many as 42 students.

He explained that the shortage of classrooms is not merely a matter of insufficient space to enrol students; it also creates challenges within the schools themselves. Some institutions are forced to accommodate large numbers of students in cramped rooms, making it difficult for teachers to engage with individual students or monitor their academic progress.

Awad added that some schools have begun seeking out any available building to rent and convert into a school, even if it was originally a residential apartment or a commercial property.

“Such spaces often lack the essential features of a proper school, such as open courtyards, laboratories and rooms dedicated to extracurricular activities,” he said.