The 2025/26 school year also opened in East Jerusalem, but not all neighborhoods welcomed it quietly. Disputed decisions by the Jerusalem Municipality’s Education Administration on the one hand, and last year’s closure of UNRWA schools in the city on the other, created both a shortage of classrooms and the transfer of hundreds of students from one institution to another
In Silwan, on the edge of Jerusalem, teachers, parents, and students unhappy with the municipality’s decision to move them from a school building they had used for many years chose to protest outside the old building instead of attending the new one. Police were called to disperse the crowd
Silwan school strike begins
At the end of the previous school year, Israel closed the UNRWA schools operating in Jerusalem. The move was based on a law passed by the Knesset that took effect on January 30, 2025. The law followed revelations that some UNRWA employees were allegedly involved in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and had ties to terror groups. According to the law, UNRWA is barred from operating in Israel, including in Jerusalem
As a result, six UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem were closed, leaving about 800 students without a classroom. The municipality claimed it could offer them alternative placements, but these schools were far from their neighborhoods and operated under the Israeli curriculum, which not all parents and teachers were willing to accept
Classroom shortage in East Jerusalem
In Silwan, the municipality suddenly announced – just before the new school year – that 600 students who had studied at a junior high school in Ras al-Amud for years must leave and move to the Al-Shamila elementary school. Parents and teachers argued that the Ras al-Amud building would instead be turned into a high school teaching the Israeli matriculation curriculum. Unwilling to accept this, they declared an open-ended strike until their demand to remain in the old building would be honored
Parents and teachers described the replacement building as already overcrowded, with poor infrastructure, and said the narrow road leading to it endangered students’ safety
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Confrontation with Jerusalem Municipality over curriculum
The parents’ committee, headed by Ramadan Taha, announced a full shutdown of studies, supported by the teachers. On Monday morning, as the school year opened, parents, teachers, and students gathered outside the school for a protest. As the hours passed, police forces were called to the scene and worked to disperse the demonstrators
Nawaf al-Salameh, father of one student, said: “Junior high students in Silwan don’t know which school they belong to or where their lessons are held, and we are shocked the municipality is sending them outside Silwan. Our children, who studied in this building since the beginning, must remain here
