Fighting for Jerusalem, Book by Book

"Since 2000, schools in occupied east Jerusalem have taught the Palestinian curriculum, devised by the Palestinian Ministry of Education. Then, after a complaint from Israel Beiteinu parliament member Alex Miller, Israel decided things needed to change. “The whole curriculum should and must be Israeli,” he said during a meeting of the Knesset’s committee on education. "
"Just to offer an example of the changes made to Palestinian schoolbooks, a first grade book requires children to color in the Palestinian flag. This part of the lesson has been struck from the book completely. In other grades, passages about the Palestinian refugee right of return have been deleted. Mention of Acca [Acre] has been taken out and national sentiments towards Jerusalem have been struck from books that now host the Israeli Jerusalem municipality logo.

The changes are not random. Israel has had a long history of “judaizing” east Jerusalem, which it considers part of Israel. International law does not concur; neither do the world’s nations, even the United States. According to them, east Jerusalem is occupied territory. Palestinians in Jerusalem consider themselves just that: Palestinians. They do not take it lightly when their occupiers dictate to them what they can or cannot teach in their schools.

Legally, Palestinians say the municipality has no right to change the PA books, which are copyrighted, without the latter’s consent. One measure being considered by Palestinian lawyers in Jerusalem is to take the Israeli municipality to court for this breech. As all things Palestinian in Jerusalem, this will certainly be another uphill battle..." Joharah Baker for MIFTAH Fighting for Jerusalem, Book by Book