Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- Israel has decided to ban more than 200 Palestinian teachers living in the occupied West Bank from working in Jerusalem’s Christian schools, a move seen as threatening the future of Christian education and weakening the Christian faith amid a rise in Israeli attacks on Christianity.
In January, Israel decided to limit the number of days on which work permits are granted to teachers from the West Bank. Under Israeli rules, Palestinians must obtain a permit from the Israeli military to cross checkpoints separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem.
Now, according to Aid to the Church in Need, the Israeli Ministry of Education has written to school principals in occupied Jerusalem stating that from September, they must recruit teachers who reside in the city and hold Israeli-issued qualifications.
No work permits will be granted to Christian Palestinian teachers living in the West Bank who hold a green card.
A representative of the General Secretariat of Christian Schools (GSCS) in the Holy Land, who spoke to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), said the decision threatens the future of Christian education in the Holy City.
He added: “If this decision is truly implemented, our Christian schools will find themselves in a very difficult position, which will jeopardise their sustainability and cause them to lose their Christian mission.”
Nearly 230 Christian teachers at 15 schools in Jerusalem are affected.
The decision on 10th March follows a bill, approved on 6th July last year by the Education Committee of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, aimed at stopping Palestinian teachers holding degrees obtained in the West Bank from teaching in Israeli-occupied territories and East Jerusalem.
According to Israeli occupation authorities, their degrees do not meet the academic standard required to teach.
At the start of the current school year in September, 171 teachers from the West Bank did not receive the necessary authorisations to teach in the schools.
This prompted the GSCS to launch a week-long strike across all Christian schools in Jerusalem until the situation was regularised and the required permits were issued.
Most of these schools were founded at the end of the 19th century and have educated hundreds of thousands of students, both Christian and Muslim.
Established to promote Christian education and to preserve the Faith and the Christian presence in Jerusalem, they have played an essential role at national and interreligious levels.
The GSCS representative said the loss of teachers would have wide ranging repercussions.
He added: “Spread across these establishments, this would represent about 15 absent teachers per school, resulting in a major disruption for our pupils and our teams.”
He said many of the teachers have worked in the schools for years and receive fair salaries.
The GSCS representative added: “The Church will not abandon them in these difficult circumstances…it is doing everything possible to communicate with all possible interlocutors within the Israeli government, despite the difficulty of engaging in dialogue with them."
More than 12,000 students are educated in the 15 Christian schools in Jerusalem. These schools employ 820 teachers and staff, including 235 who hold West Bank ID cards issued by the Palestinian Authority. They reach their workplaces with "entry permits to Israel", which are renewed at the beginning of each academic term.
Like all Palestinians, Christians in Jerusalem and the West Bank are subjected to a continuous series of Israeli violations, ranging from restrictions on freedom of worship and physical and verbal assaults to the vandalism of churches and Christian cemeteries, and the seizure of their properties through dubious legal means or by extremist settler groups.
Israel also imposes severe restrictions on the access of Palestinian Christians to Jerusalem, especially during religious holidays, in a clear attempt to strip the city of its diverse religious and historical character.
"The targeting of the Christian presence in Jerusalem is clear, part of a policy to Judaise the city and make it religiously homogeneous, with exceptions to allow some foreigners to practise their religious rituals," said Munther Ishaq, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem.
