Christian schools in Jerusalem have announced escalating protest measures, including a suspension of classes and a mass strike, in rejection of what they consider arbitrary Israeli policies that have disrupted the work of hundreds of teachers.
These steps come after Israel imposed restrictions on work permits for teachers from the West Bank, leading to disruptions in the education sector.
The denial of permits has deprived schools of essential teaching staff, directly impacting thousands of students in Jerusalem.
More than 12,000 students are educated in 15 Christian schools in Jerusalem. These schools employ 820 teachers and staff, including 235 who hold West Bank ID cards issued by the Palestinian Authority. They reach their workplaces with “entry permits to Israel”, which are renewed at the beginning of each academic term.
At the start of the new school term, the Israeli Civil Administration refused to renew the permits of some teachers and placed others under review, while issuing third-category permits only for certain days of the week.
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Ibrahim Faltas, principal of the Terra Sancta School in Jerusalem, told Middle East Eye that Christian schools were scheduled to resume classes on Saturday for the second term after the Christmas break, but Israel prevented 235 teachers from the West Bank from obtaining full permits.
Most of the teachers from the West Bank don’t have full permits, meaning they are prohibited from entering the city on Saturdays, the days when Christian schools are open. A permit must cover the entire week, he said.
According to Faltas, this is the first time permits have been withheld and teachers have been treated in this manner. Despite promises to resolve the crisis, some teachers are still being denied full permits.
‘We cannot find replacement teachers, because the teachers from the West Bank have over 20 years of experience’
– Ibrahim Faltas, principal of the Terra Sancta School
“This is a major challenge, adding to the many others facing schools in Jerusalem, including the curriculum, the shortage of teaching staff, and significant difficulties,” he added.
“We cannot find replacement teachers, because the teachers from the West Bank have over 20 years of experience. We are also talking about 235 families whose livelihoods are threatened.”
Besides the high level of education they provide, Jerusalem’s Christian schools are among the oldest, most prestigious and most important schools, affiliated with all the churches in the city without exception, he said.
Existential threat
Like all Palestinians, Christians in Jerusalem and the West Bank are subjected to a continuous series of Israeli violations, ranging from restrictions on freedom of worship and physical and verbal assaults to the vandalism of churches and Christian cemeteries, and the seizure of their properties through dubious legal means or by extremist settler groups.
Israel also imposes severe restrictions on the access of Palestinian Christians to Jerusalem, especially during religious holidays, in a clear attempt to strip the city of its diverse religious and historical character.
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Reverend Munther Ishaq, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, told MEE that the timing exposes the Israeli government’s hypocrisy.
He also said it is ironic, as it claims to protect Christians while simultaneously attacking Christian schools through teacher permits.
The idea of issuing permits from the military for Palestinians to work in Jerusalem is unacceptable and perpetuates occupation, injustice and apartheid, he said.
“Just because they boast about giving us permits during the holiday week doesn’t mean they’re doing us a favour. We are indigenous here and have been praying for 2,000 years,” Ishaq said.
“Suddenly, they’re preventing us from moving freely, as if they’re doing us a favour by issuing a military permit. This is unacceptable. But we are forced to live under this system and obtain a military permit to continue our education in schools that existed in Jerusalem long before the establishment of Israel,” he explained.
“The targeting of the Christian presence in Jerusalem is clear, part of a policy to Judaise the city and make it religiously homogeneous, with exceptions to allow some foreigners to practise their religious rituals,” said Ishaq.
“There are many examples of targeting Christians in Jerusalem, Taybeh, Aboud, Ein Arik, or even attempts to impose taxes on churches as a form of extortion,” he added.
Systematic campaign
The education sector in Jerusalem faces a systematic campaign of targeting by Israel. It is evident in the forced imposition of the Israeli curriculum on Palestinian schools, the extortion of their administrations through funding and licensing, the closure of schools or threats of closure, and the obstruction of renovation and construction work.
Students and teachers are subjected to daily harassment through checkpoints and raids, in addition to a severe shortage of classrooms and infrastructure resulting from deliberate policies of neglect.
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Schools in Jerusalem are divided into categories: private schools; Waqf schools, which are affiliated with the Palestinian Authority and operate under the Jordanian Waqf; Unrwa schools, which were closed last year after the agency’s activities were banned; municipal schools, which fall under the Israeli Ministry of Education; and contract schools, whose owners sign contracts with the Israeli Ministry of Education and which are opened in substandard conditions to address the shortage of classrooms.
According to the Faisal Husseini Foundation, which focuses on education in Jerusalem, 2,000 new students enrol in Jerusalem schools annually. There is a need for 80 new classrooms each year, of which Israel provides, at best, 36. The current shortage of school places is 10,000.
Fakhri Abu Diab, a researcher specialising in Jerusalem affairs, said that Israel targets education, awareness and culture in Jerusalem, attempting to dilute them.
This is done sometimes by changing curricula and closing schools under the pretext that they are affiliated with international organisations like Unrwa. Israel also finds other pretexts to bring schools under its control.
Abu Diab argued that Israel was tightening its grip on private schools, Islamic Waqf schools and Christian schools, each in its own way and under specific pretexts, in order to control them, but the ultimate goal was the mindset of the students in general.
“What is happening in these schools is that Israel wants to make them subordinate to one administration, which is the Israeli Ministry of Education, in order to change the mentality and culture and take control of the future generation. It is fighting all Arab culture in Jerusalem,” he told MEE.
