For reasons due to its unique history, extending back to the British Mandate days and the 19-year period of divided rule that followed from 1948 to 1967, and most importantly because the status of Jerusalem in international law remains undecided and contested, the education system for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the side of the city that Israel occupied in 1967, is very fragmented and dysfunctional. For example, there is no single supervisory body responsible for centralizing policy, curricula, funding, or anything else.
As a result, there are different categories of schools that serve Palestinian students in the city. This graphic maps these categories, the numbers of schools in each category, and the percentage of students who study at each type of school.
The data are from 2023.
The different types of schools are funded differently. In recent years, Israeli policy has been designed to push schools to accept Israeli funding, thereby granting the state more control over the curricula. In November 2024, Israel passed a new education law that authorizes the minister of education to revoke funding for schools if the minister believes that “expressions of solidarity with an act of terrorism or with a terrorist organization, or support for them, exist within the institution, and that the management of the school knew or should have known of their existence.”
This graphic summarizes the state of schools in East Jerusalem in the year before this law was passed. The impact the law will have moving forward is yet to be seen.