RESTRICTION SUMMARY: Jerusalem, 19 September 2022. A Palestinian school in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem is closed while on strike in protest against a new Israeli-imposed curriculum.

0.1 SOUNDBITE (in Arabic) Mufeed Abu Ghannam, Chairman of the Central Committee for Parents of Students in Al-Tur schools
0.2 SOUNDBITE (in Arabic)

STORYLINE:

Palestinian schools in occupied East Jerusalem are observing a general strike in protest at attempts by Israel’s Jerusalem municipality to censor and edit Palestinian textbooks, as well as introduce an Israeli curriculum in classrooms.

Hundreds of schools shut their doors on Monday morning – the latest in a series of recent steps over the past few weeks led by parents, which included protests and a refusal to teach the Israeli-imposed textbooks.

There are more than 280 Palestinian schools in Jerusalem, with some 115,000 students from kindergarten to grade 12, according to al-Shamali. He claimed that approximately 90-95 percent of schools were observing the strike.

In July, Israeli authorities revoked the permanent licenses of six Palestinian schools in Jerusalem, claiming that their textbooks incited against the Israeli state and army. They were given permission to operate for a year if the curriculum was edited.

The eastern half of Jerusalem was militarily occupied by Israel in 1967 and illegally annexed. Some 350,000 Palestinians currently live in occupied East Jerusalem, with 220,000 Israeli living in illegal settlements among them.

Today, 86 percent of occupied East Jerusalem is under the direct control of the Israeli government and settlers.

Footage by /APA