In East Jerusalem, Israel imposes its curriculum and censors Palestinian textbooks

From the 2026 - 2027 school year, the Israeli curriculum became mandatory for all new first- and seventh-grade classes in East Jerusalem's municipal schools. These schools fall under the Israeli-run Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Education. For the first time since Israel occupied and annexed the city in 1967, an annexation not recognised under international law, tens of thousands of Palestinian children are studying the Israeli curriculum. According to the Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate, they number close to 45,000, about 38% of the roughly 120,000 Palestinian students in East Jerusalem. The figure was 10,347 in 2020 - 2021, 19,402 in 2024 - 2025 and 27,041 in 2025 - 2026, and only a few hundred fifteen years ago.

The remaining students still follow the Palestinian curriculum, but from textbooks revised by Israeli authorities before approval. The Palestinian Minister of Education, Amjad Barham, cites documents and correspondence to describe the changes: the national anthem marked for deletion from a first-grade textbook, a second-grade page showing a prison removed along with prisoners' names, the folk song "Ala Dalauna" cut and a lesson on Jaffa rewritten in third grade. In mathematics, a reference to the "separation and annexation wall" and a map of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital were reportedly struck. From fourth to ninth grade, "mujahid" (freedom fighter) was reportedly replaced with "defender" and "prisoner" with "the wronged". Material on Jerusalem, the Nakba, resistance, settlement and certain historical events was reportedly deleted or revised in favour of themes of peace and coexistence. A study by Hebrew University researcher Samira Alian of 28 social studies textbooks found substantive changes to material on Jerusalem, Palestinian identity, colonialism, Zionism and the Nakba. One textbook had entire lessons on Palestinian political history removed.

Ma'arouf al-Rifai, spokesperson for the Jerusalem Governorate, called the move "a dangerous and unprecedented escalation", the most serious since 1967, and part of a systematic policy to replace the Palestinian curriculum with the Israeli narrative. According to analyst Esmat Mansour, the process is long-standing. Early attempts to impose the Israeli curriculum after 1967 were defeated by parents and teachers. The Palestinian curriculum adopted after the creation of the Palestinian Authority was then routinely revised before reaching classrooms. For Imad Hawas, an Arabic teacher at a municipal school in Anata, the textbooks have become texts with a Palestinian title but different content.