Critics say tons of of youngsters are more likely to be moved to varsities educating Israeli curriculum, which may ‘erase’ Palestinian identification.
Israel has shut down six faculties run by the United Nations company for Palestinian refugees after transferring to banish the organisation from the occupied West Financial institution and East Jerusalem early this yr.
The UN Reduction and Works Company for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) stated in an announcement that Israeli police forcibly entered faculties within the East Jerusalem neighbourhoods of Shuafat, Silwan, Sur Baher and Wadi al-Joz on Tuesday.
Officers from the Israeli Ministry of Training had been additionally available. They issued orders to shut the colleges inside 30 days.
“If we’re compelled to shut, the implications can be dire as the kids can be disadvantaged of their primary proper to schooling, which is able to exacerbate their struggling and negatively have an effect on their future,” stated Abir Ismail, director of UNRWA’s info workplace.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini stated in an announcement that Israel’s orders had been a “violation” of worldwide legislation and the principles granting the UN operations safety from native jurisdictions.
“Some 800 girls and boys are immediately impacted by these closure orders and are more likely to miss ending their faculty yr,” Lazzarini wrote.
This morning, Israeli officers from the Jerusalem Municipality, accompanied by Israeli Safety Forces, forcibly entered six @UNRWA faculties in East Jerusalem. They gave closure orders for the colleges efficient in 30 days.
UNRWA faculties in occupied East Jerusalem are…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) April 8, 2025
Al Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh stated the closure of the UNRWA faculties is “extraordinarily problematic” as a result of the kids would seemingly find yourself at Israeli establishments run by the Jerusalem Municipality.
She defined that the kids admitted to Israeli faculties would not be taught below the Palestinian curriculum.
“It’s an Israeli-run curriculum that Palestinians say ignores and erases Palestinian identification,” Odeh stated from Jordan’s capital, Amman. Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan as a result of it has been banned from Israel and the West Financial institution.
UNRWA presently offers humanitarian help to about 750,000 Palestinians.
Ismail stated the help company maintained its “agency dedication to proceed offering academic companies to Palestine refugees in East Jerusalem, together with the present tutorial yr”.
Nonetheless, Israel has accused UNRWA staff of involvement within the Hamas-led assaults on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, a cost vehemently denied by the UN.
Final yr, within the aftermath of these allegations, the Israeli Knesset handed two bills prohibiting UNRWA from conducting actions inside Israel’s borders and making it unlawful for Israeli officers to have any contact with UNRWA. These measures have been in impact since January.
Odeh stated Israel began implementing its ban by refusing to interact with UNRWA with regards to assist to Gaza. However now, she defined, the nation has moved on to concentrating on the company’s operations and headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem.
That transfer, she stated, is more likely to have a “crippling impact” on UNRWA’s operations “in 19 different refugee camps” throughout the occupied West Financial institution, affecting “Palestinians who depend on the company, not only for schooling but additionally for well being companies, for psychosocial help”.
Odeh added that Israel has accelerated its implementation of the UNRWA ban because the begin of its “Iron Wall” navy incursion within the West Financial institution in January.
The operation was launched simply two days after a ceasefire took impact in Gaza.
It has concerned the Israeli navy bombing and bulldozing communities throughout the West Financial institution, razing complete residential areas in what critics concern is a bid to maneuver in the direction of full annexation.
Greater than 40,000 Palestinians have been uprooted from the Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps as a part of the navy marketing campaign.
UNRWA was established by the UN Basic Meeting in 1949 to offer help to Palestinians displaced from their land through the creation of Israel in 1948, an occasion recognized to Palestinians because the Nakba, or “disaster”.
