Dozens of private schools in East Jerusalem have suspended classes after Israeli authorities imposed new restrictions on work permits for teachers from the occupied West Bank, a move that Palestinian education officials and school administrators have described as arbitrary and damaging to the education system. The decision has disrupted schooling for tens of thousands of students and intensified long-standing tensions over education, mobility, and governance in the contested city.

The suspension of classes was initially announced by the General Secretariat of Christian Educational Institutions in Jerusalem and was later joined by all private schools operating in East Jerusalem. According to school officials, the strike affects around 20,000 students in total, including approximately 8,500 pupils enrolled in 15 Christian-run schools. The disruption comes at the start of the second academic term, raising concerns about the ability of schools to maintain continuity in teaching and extracurricular activities.

Richard Zananiri, director of the private St George’s School in Jerusalem, said the immediate cause of the shutdown was an Israeli decision to limit the days on which work permits are granted to Palestinian teachers and staff who commute daily from the West Bank. These permits are essential for educators to cross Israeli checkpoints and reach their workplaces in East Jerusalem.

The General Secretariat stated that 171 teachers and staff members have been directly affected by the new restrictions. Zananiri explained that this represents more than half of the roughly 300 teachers employed across all private schools in East Jerusalem, underlining the scale of the impact. “We are not happy that children are staying at home,” he said, stressing that the decision to suspend classes was taken reluctantly and only after it became clear that schools could not operate normally under the current conditions.

According to Zananiri and other school officials, the issue began when Israeli authorities initially excluded Saturdays from the work permits issued to teachers. After objections from schools and church bodies, permits were reinstated for Saturdays. However, authorities then excluded Fridays and Sundays instead, effectively limiting the number of days teachers could legally enter East Jerusalem to perform their duties.

School administrators said the exclusion of Fridays and Sundays was unacceptable, as many educational programmes, examinations, remedial classes, and extracurricular activities are held on those days. Christian schools in particular follow academic schedules that differ from the standard Israeli workweek, making flexibility in permit validity essential for normal operations.

“The exclusion of these days makes it impossible to run schools properly,” Zananiri said. “Education does not stop at formal classroom hours. Activities, meetings, and support programmes are an integral part of the school week.”

The General Secretariat warned that under the current restrictions, schools would be unable to maintain regular operations throughout the second academic term. It described the Israeli measures as “arbitrary” and said they had been imposed without adequate consultation or consideration of their educational consequences.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the permit restrictions. In the past, Israeli authorities have said that permit policies are based on security considerations, a justification that Palestinian officials and human rights groups frequently contest.

Beyond the immediate permit issue, Zananiri pointed to a series of other Israeli decisions that have placed increasing pressure on Palestinian education in East Jerusalem. He said Israeli authorities have barred Palestinian schools in the city from employing teachers who are Jerusalem residents but obtained their university degrees from Palestinian institutions in the West Bank. This restriction, he said, further narrows the already limited pool of qualified teachers available to East Jerusalem schools.

In addition, Zananiri noted that since last year, Israel has banned the hiring of new teachers from the West Bank to work in East Jerusalem schools. Combined with the permit restrictions, these measures have created what school officials describe as a staffing crisis that threatens the long-term viability of private and church-run educational institutions in the city.

The education dispute cannot be separated from the broader political and legal status of East Jerusalem. Israel occupied the eastern part of the city in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it, a move not recognised by the international community. Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and education has long been a sensitive arena in the struggle over identity, sovereignty, and control.

In recent years, Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem have faced growing pressure from Israeli authorities, including curriculum scrutiny, funding constraints, and regulatory hurdles. Critics argue that these policies aim to weaken Palestinian educational institutions and integrate schools more closely into the Israeli system, often at the expense of Palestinian national and cultural identity.

The current crisis also unfolds against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza, which has heightened tensions across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. As part of its broader actions following the conflict, Israel has closed six schools in East Jerusalem run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas militants, alleging that some of the agency’s employees took part in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. These accusations have been strongly denied by UNRWA, which has said it cooperates with investigations and adheres to principles of neutrality.

A series of investigations into UNRWA found some “neutrality-related issues” within the agency but stressed that Israel had not provided conclusive evidence to support its headline allegation that UNRWA as an institution was complicit in militant activity. Nevertheless, the closures of UNRWA-run schools have further reduced educational options for Palestinian children in East Jerusalem.

For parents and students, the latest suspension of classes has added to a sense of uncertainty and disruption. Many families rely on private and church-run schools because they see them as offering stability, quality education, and cultural continuity. The sudden halt in classes has forced parents to keep children at home with little clarity on when normal schooling will resume.

School officials say they are continuing contacts with Israeli authorities in an effort to resolve the permit issue and ensure that work permits for teachers cover all days of the week. However, they warn that without a swift and comprehensive solution, the damage to the academic year could be severe.

“This is not a political strike,” Zananiri said. “It is a cry for help from schools that are being prevented from doing their basic job: educating children.”

As the standoff continues, the situation has drawn renewed attention to the fragile state of education in East Jerusalem and the broader challenges faced by Palestinians living under occupation. For many observers, the suspension of classes is not just an administrative dispute over permits, but another flashpoint in the long-running conflict over rights, access, and the future of the city itself.