Israel's Expanding Control Over Palestinian Education Raises Alarm Over Identity Erasure

The new school year in occupied East Jerusalem opened with a significant shift in the educational landscape: approximately 45,000 Palestinian children are now being taught using a curriculum developed by Israeli authorities. This figure represents more than one-third of all Palestinian students in the occupied territory and nearly doubles the number from the previous academic year, signaling a rapid acceleration of Israeli involvement in Palestinian education.

Simultaneously, Christian schools in the city began the term with a strike, prompted by Israel's refusal to grant entry permits to many teachers who reside in the occupied West Bank. This development has compounded existing tensions surrounding access to education for Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem.

For the Palestinian community in occupied East Jerusalem, these changes represent a continuing pattern of encroachment on their national rights by Israeli occupation authorities. Israel, however, defends its actions by asserting that Palestinian textbooks, produced by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and taught by instructors trained in Palestinian Authority institutions, promote hatred. This justification has been used to rationalize extensive intervention in educational matters.

International humanitarian law establishes clear obligations for occupying powers regarding education. The Geneva Convention, as interpreted by the International Committee of the Red Cross, prohibits an occupying power from replacing an existing education system with its own structures or imposing new curricula. The ICRC's recently updated commentary explicitly states that occupying authorities must facilitate the normal operation of educational institutions and refrain from interfering in their internal affairs.

Despite these legal protections, Israeli interference in Palestinian education extends far beyond occupied East Jerusalem into the occupied West Bank and, more recently, the Gaza Strip. Successive Israeli governments have for years urged the United States and European nations to pressure the Palestinian Authority into revising its textbooks by making aid conditional on such changes. In Gaza, the widespread destruction of the education system has created an opening for NGOs funded by Western donors to introduce curricula that have received Israeli approval.

The Israeli position that these measures are necessary to prevent Palestinian children from learning hatred does not withstand academic examination. Research funded by the US Department of State, conducted jointly by Palestinian and Israeli scholars, concluded that Palestinian textbooks do not foster hatred or the dehumanization of Israelis. This finding directly contradicts the primary justification offered for Israeli intervention.

What, then, does Israel actually seek to revise in Palestinian educational materials? Comparative studies examining Palestinian textbooks alongside Israeli-edited versions used in occupied East Jerusalem have documented the systematic removal or modification of content related to Palestinian national symbols, including the flag and anthem, as well as references to Palestinian sovereignty and historical narratives.

A 2025 study focusing on primary-school textbooks revealed that Israeli modifications included substituting "Palestine" with "Israel" in certain contexts and eliminating passages that describe the realities of occupation. These alterations point to a deliberate effort to reshape how Palestinian children understand their own national identity and history.

The motivation behind these revisions appears to stem not from concerns about hatred, but from a desire to suppress content that cultivates Palestinian national consciousness. Since its establishment, Israel has consistently opposed the articulation of Palestinian nationhood, with some Israeli leaders historically asserting that no such people exists. Education that reinforces Palestinian identity therefore presents a challenge to this position.

Palestinian resistance to curriculum changes in East Jerusalem must be understood in this broader context. For many parents, teachers, and school administrators, accepting the Israeli curriculum carries implications beyond the content of textbooks; it represents acceptance of Israeli annexation of Jerusalem and the erasure of Palestinian identity within the city.

The removal of concepts such as occupation, the Nakba, refugee status, the right of return, Palestinian sovereignty, and national symbols from educational materials can gradually sever Palestinian political identity from the historical narrative that gives these claims their meaning. This process of detachment threatens to undermine the foundation upon which Palestinian political aspirations rest.

While Israel exercises authority over Palestinian curricula, the content of Israeli educational materials receives comparatively little scrutiny from Israel's Western allies. Israeli philologist Nurit Peled-Elhanan examined Israeli history and geography textbooks published after the Oslo Accords for her book "Palestine in Israeli School Books." Her research documented extensive use of racist stereotypes and the erasure of Palestinians from educational materials.

Peled-Elhanan expressed particular concern that Israeli students complete their schooling and enter mandatory military service having internalized fear and resentment toward Palestinians, while remaining largely ignorant of Palestinian life and experience. This educational framework, she argued, produces soldiers who lack understanding of the people they are tasked with controlling.

More recent scholarship by Israeli academic Yael Teff-Seker analyzed 123 textbooks used in Jewish Israeli schools. The study identified strong ethnocentric framing, a persistent narrative of Jewish victimhood, and minimal representation of Palestinian perspectives. Teff-Seker noted that while peace with Arab nations is portrayed positively, the occupation is presented without moral judgment, and occupied Palestinian territories are frequently referred to using Israeli designations such as Judea and Samaria rather than the internationally recognized term "occupied West Bank."

Additional research coauthored by Israeli academic Roy Weintraub investigated how Israeli state curricula address the Nakba, the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 war that fundamentally shapes Palestinian identity and political consciousness. The study found that the term appears only partially in Israeli textbooks and teaching materials, with most resources justifying the actions of Israeli forces during the conflict. The researchers concluded that including difficult historical events in curricula does not automatically foster critical understanding of the suffering and injustices involved.

These findings suggest that the problem extends beyond Palestinian education to encompass the broader question of how both societies teach their children about the conflict. The disparity in international attention—with significant scrutiny directed at Palestinian textbooks while Israeli materials receive far less examination—raises questions about the consistency of international engagement with educational content in the region.

The expanding Israeli role in Palestinian education, particularly in East Jerusalem, represents a fundamental shift in how Palestinian children will learn about their own history, identity, and political reality. The implications of this transformation extend beyond the classroom, potentially affecting the transmission of national memory and the sustainability of Palestinian claims to self-determination for generations to come.