Notice posted to Facebook warning parents of students of online registration for the Israeli curriculum. On a screenshot of the Jerusalem municipality website, a note was added reading, "For parents registering their children for the new school year. Very important warning." Parents are called on to choose the Palestinian curriculum, not the Israeli (Facebook page of the parents' committee of Palestinian students in east Jerusalem, January 20, 2018).
In recent months Palestinians have been waging a campaign in Jerusalem to prevent the introduction of the Israeli curriculum into Palestinian educational institutions in east Jerusalem. The campaign was accelerated in recent weeks, apparently because the Jerusalem municipality began registering children in the schools in east Jerusalem for the 2018-2019 school year. Online registration became possible (which made the Palestinians suspicious). The claim of the campaign is that the objective of using the Israeli curriculum in east Jerusalem is to erase the Arab Palestinian identity and inculcate the Palestinian students with the Israeli narrative.
- Three groups participate in the campaign:
- The Palestinian Authority (PA), led by Sabri Sidam, the PA’s minister of education who announced a series of practical measures his ministry is planning to take in support of schools, teachers and students. The objective is to prevent the introduction of the Israeli curriculum and strengthen Palestinian education in east Jerusalem.
- Senior religious leaders Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the mufti of Jerusalem and the PA, and Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the imam of al-Aqsa mosque and chairman of the supreme Islamic authority. The two issued religious opinions forbidding the teaching of the Israeli curriculum.
- The central parents’ committee of Palestinian students in east Jerusalem, headed by Ziyad al-Shimali. He has been very active on the ground and in the media, and leads a broad campaign against the use of the Israeli curriculum in east Jerusalem.
Facebook page post equating the Israeli curriculum with garbage. The Arabic reads, “The intellectual garbage for our children will remain extremely dangerous for society, more than the garbage found in the streets…the Israeli curriculum (Facebook page of the parents’ committee of Palestinian students in east Jerusalem, January 2, 2018).
- In September 2017 Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the mufti of Jerusalem and the PA, issued a fatwa forbidding the use of the Israeli curriculum in schools in east Jerusalem. He was joined by Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the imam of al-Aqsa mosque. Sabri Sidam, the PA minister of education, said in December 2017 that his ministry would begin to take practical steps to implement Sheikh Muhammad Hussein’s fatwa. They included providing support for educational institutions in east Jerusalem, giving financial grants to teachers and students in east Jerusalem, and supplying the students with PA textbooks.
- The steps are accompanied by a campaign waged by the central parents’ committee, whose objective is to “purify the Palestinian schools in east Jerusalem of the Israeli curriculum.” In ITIC assessment the campaign is coordinated with the Palestinian ministry of education. A press conference was held with the participation of Adnan al-Husseini, the PA’s minister for Jerusalem affairs, and Ikrima Sabri, the imam of al-Aqsa. The parents’ committee is also waging a propaganda campaign on Facebook, distributes brochures and holds meetings with parents in east Jerusalem (in the Beit Hanina neighborhood, for example).
- To what extent has the Israeli curriculum been introduced into the schools in east Jerusalem?
- The number of students in east Jerusalem who study the Israeli curriculum is continually rising. According to information from the Jerusalem municipality, during the current school [2017-2018] year 5,800 students in east Jerusalem study the Israeli curriculum, an increase of 14% over the previous year [2016-2017] (Jerusalem News, an article by Alon Levi entitled, “The war of the Israeli matriculation exams,” January 26, 2018). The Israeli ministry of the education is of the opinion that the number might potentially continue to grow. Meir Shimoni, director of the Jerusalem district in the ministry of education, said that “the surveys we carried out indicate that about 50% of the parents in east Jerusalem want their children to pass the Israeli matriculation exams” (conversation between Alon Levi from the local newspaper Jerusalem News and Meir Shimoni).
- However, compared with the overall number of students in educational institutions in east Jerusalem, the number of students studying the Israeli curriculum is low. In the 2015-2016 school year there were 111,600 students in Palestinian educational institutions in east Jerusalem.[1] The overwhelming majority studied the Palestinian curriculum and only 5% studied the Israeli curriculum.
Thus the question raised is, what prompted senior PA figures, senior religious figures and parents to take action against the “danger” of the introduction of the Israeli curriculum into schools in east Jerusalem? Apparently they regard the rise in the number of students studying the Israeli curriculum as potentially dangerous, even if the number is still small, and are concerned of erosion if more students see advantages in having an Israeli matriculation certificate (it is also possible that the Jerusalem municipality’s online registration increased their concerns). In addition, the Palestinians are oversensitive to any step Israel taken in Jerusalem, especially concerning an issue as important as education, given the tension following Trump’s declaration of American recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Notice posted to Facebook warning parents of students of online registration for the Israeli curriculum. On a screenshot of the Jerusalem municipality website, a note was added reading, “For parents registering their children for the new school year. Very important warning.” Parents are called on to choose the Palestinian curriculum, not the Israeli (Facebook page of the parents’ committee of Palestinian students in east Jerusalem, January 20, 2018).
In conclusion, despite the rise in the number of students studying according to the Israeli curriculum, most of the students in east Jerusalem study according to the PA curriculum and use its textbooks. In ITIC assessment, it is doubtful whether the situation will change significantly in the coming years. The PA textbooks teach the delegitimization of the State of Israel, demonize it and preach a violent struggle against it until the liberation of all the territories of Palestine[2] (in which the formal educational system is joined by the informal). That means the younger generation in east Jerusalem is educated for hatred of and violence towards Israel, in addition to already feeling deeply deprived.[3] All of the above contribute to turning the Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem into hotbeds of incitement, violence and terrorism, as was repeatedly illustrated by the wave of popular terrorism that began in October 2015.
!["The national campaign to purify the schools in [east] Jerusalem of the Israeli curriculum" (Facebook page of the parents' committee of Palestinian students in east Jerusalem, January 20, 2018): On the right side is a PA academic tenth grade geography textbook. The cover features a map of Palestine, in which Israel does not appear, all the territory covered by the Palestinian flag. It is a familiar graphic frequently used to send the message that all Palestine belongs only to the Palestinians.](http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/app/uploads/2018/02/word-image-1518021446980.jpeg)
“The national campaign to purify the schools in [east] Jerusalem of the Israeli curriculum” (Facebook page of the parents’ committee of Palestinian
students in east Jerusalem, January 20, 2018): On the right side is a PA academic tenth grade geography textbook. The cover features a map of Palestine,
in which Israel does not appear, all the territory covered by the Palestinian flag. It is a familiar graphic frequently used to send the message that all Palestine
belongs only to the Palestinians.
- For information about the activity of institutions and Palestinian senior figures against the Israeli curriculum see:
- Appendix A – Steps taken by the PA to reinforce Palestinian education in east Jerusalem.
- Appendix B – The campaign of the central parents’ committee in east Jerusalem against the Israeli curriculum.
- Appendix C – Religious opinions issued by senior religious figures banning the teaching of the Israeli curriculum in east Jerusalem.
[1] In the 2015-2016 school year there were 111,600 students in east Jerusalem: 90,600 in public schools and 21,000 in private schools (Yearbook of statistics for Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, 2017). ↑
[2] Conclusions drawn from the studies done by Dr. Arnon Groiss and Dr. Roni Shaked, "Schoolbooks of the Palestinian Authority (PA): The Attitude to the Jews, to Israel and to Peace." The study was published by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. The results of the study validated findings from other studies of Palestinian textbooks issued by the ITIC website. ↑
[3] The feelings of deprivation of the residents of east Jerusalem are increased by the easy access they have to the western part of the city, and their frequent meetings with the difference in the conditions between the two sectors of the same city. ↑
