Palestinian education ministry warns Jerusalem schools against adopting Israeli curriculum

The Palestinian ministry released a statement saying attempts by schools in East Jerusalem to adopt the Israeli curriculum "including subjects such as history which are viewed by Palestinians as tantamount to adopting the historical narrative of the enemy" will not be tolerated.

It threatened to hold school officials accountable for encouraging the attempts to introduce the Israeli textbooks in Palestinian private schools in the city, saying that this puts Palestinian identity in schools at risk.

The ministry called upon the civil society organisations to "take a firm stance on attempts aimed at undermining the Palestinian education system in the city".

Activists accuse Israel of pushing Israeli curriculum on Palestinian schools in Jerusalem in return for financial support.

This is being done by Israel under the alleged pretext of closing gaps in education, but critics say it is a way of undermining Palestine's history among the youth.

Read also: The Palestine Brief: 50 years after they burned al-Aqsa

Israel has occupied the West Bank illegally since 1967, committing various crimes against Palestinian civilians.

More than 600,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in constructions considered illegal under international law.

Often, Israel forces Palestinians to demolish their own homes under the pretext of not having a building permit.

Applications for building permits are also known to take years to be processed, giving Israeli courts a loophole to increase Palestinian home demolitions by branding structures as "illegal".

Four out of five of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem live under the poverty line, and applying for building permits comes with various taxes and fees amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.

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