A continuous attack on education – threatening to withdraw school licenses…Confiscation of "Palestinian curriculum textbooks"
The attack by the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Education on the schools of the city of Jerusalem continues, in attempts to prevent the teaching of the Palestinian curriculum in the city.
With the beginning of the current school year, prosecutions of school administrations in Jerusalem began on one hand, and prosecution and confiscation of the Palestinian curriculum textbooks on the other hand.
The Israeli Ministry of Education sent official letters to the schools of the city of Jerusalem entitled "Receiving educational books for an educational institution by the Municipality of Jerusalem", and the letter stated 3 items:
• The Ministry of Education funds the distribution of educational books to educational institutions in East Jerusalem, the educational books are distributed by the Jerusalem Municipality, and there is no inciting content against the State of Israel in the books distributed.
• I sign for the receipt of educational books that do not contain "inciting content of the State of Israel".
• As for the third item, it is a threat to revoke the educational institution's license, and it states: The Ministry of Education confirmed that if educational books are found in the educational institution that contain provocative content, the Ministry will consider revoking the educational institution's license.
It should be noted that the meaning of "there is no provocative content" in the distributed books is that "the translated Palestinian curriculum books" were distributed to the Jerusalem schools, for teaching, and therefore numerous changes were made in all the books, by deleting the lessons and Koranic paragraphs and verses, poetry verses and pictures.
In the field, the Israeli police confiscated on Wednesday the “History, Geography, and Arabic" textbooks from the students of the Al-Aqsa schools while they were heading to their schools inside Al-Aqsa.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center – Jerusalem explained that the forces stationed at Al-Aqsa gates had a list that included the names of the books that will be confiscated from the students of the Al-Aqsa schools, and that are forbidden from being brought into the schools located in Al-Aqsa.
The center added that the forces stopped the students of Al-Aqsa Shari’a schools in the morning while they were going to their school and searched their bags and confiscated from them the "8th grade Arabic” textbooks and the "Geography and history for the 11th grade".
The center pointed out that last Monday the forces stopped the students of Al-Aqsa schools, and confiscated some books from them after searching their bags.
The center pointed out that last Thursday the forces also confiscated the "Palestinian curriculum books" while they were being transported to the "Bilara" school, and the forces arrested the driver and the employee responsible for delivering these books to the school.
