(LifeSiteNews) — The Israeli government instituted a policy prohibiting Christian Palestinian teachers who live in the West Bank from working in any of the 15 Christian schools in Jerusalem in a move that threatens to weaken the two-millennia presence of Christians in the Holy City.
School principals in Jerusalem recently received letters from the Israeli Ministry of Education stipulating that beginning in September they are required to only hire teachers who reside in the city and hold Israeli-issued qualifications.
The March 10 directive comes in the wake of a bill approved last July by the Education Committee of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) aimed at prohibiting Palestinian teachers who earned their degrees at institutions in the West Bank from teaching in Israel or the occupied East Jerusalem.
Therefore, work permits for Christian Palestinian teachers living in the West Bank will no longer be granted despite their possessing a green card that allows individual Palestinians to work and travel within Israeli-controlled areas.
According to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), this restriction will affect almost 230 Christian teachers at 15 schools in Jerusalem, relegating them to the financial hardship of unemployment.
A representative of the General Secretariat of Christian Schools (GSCS) in the Holy Land told ACN that the new policy threatens the future of Christian education in the Holy City.
Additionally, he said, “If this decision is truly implemented, our Christian schools will find themselves in a very difficult position, which will jeopardize their sustainability and cause them to lose their Christian mission.”
The GSCS representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained, “There are not enough Christian teachers in Jerusalem to take over. In the long term, these restrictions risk permanently affecting the Christian character of our institutions and weakening the Christian faith and presence in the city.”
With most of these Christian schools having been founded in the late 19th century, they have educated hundreds of thousands of students, both Christian and Muslim, throughout the decades.
According to ACN, they were established “to promote Christian education and to preserve the Faith and the Christian presence in Jerusalem,” and “have played an essential role at national and interreligious levels.”
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The loss of the teachers would have far-reaching ramifications, the GSCS representative explained. “Spread across these establishments, this would represent about 15 absent teachers per school, resulting in a major disruption for our pupils and our teams.”
Furthermore, because many of the teachers have worked in the schools for years, receiving fair salaries, he observed the termination of their employment would impose a significant hardship on them and their families. And due to a difficult job market, this may force some to emigrate in search of a better future for themselves and their children.
If the restrictions do come to fruition, the GSCS representative assured that “The Church will not abandon (the affected teachers) 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.”
Additionally, the schools are investigating legal options, and the local Church is also petitioning the Holy See and other international partners with influence to pressure the Israeli government to reverse this policy.
At the beginning of the current semester last January, the Israeli government withheld such necessary authorizations from 171 West Bank teachers to work in the schools.
This prompted a weeklong strike across all the Christian schools in Jerusalem until the situation was remedied and the government issued the required permits.
In a statement at the time, the GSCS condemned and denounced the “arbitrary measures” and emphasized that “obtaining full, unrestricted permits is a fundamental right that cannot be compromised or tampered with.”
It went on to affirm “that such measures do not serve the message of Jerusalem as a holy city for all and only serve the interests of those who wish to disrupt educational life.”
Palestinian journalist and former Princeton University professor Daoud Kuttab classified the Israeli policy in January as the crime of “collective punishment” because it “does not target specific individuals whom Israeli occupation authorities might claim pose a threat; rather, the blanket ban on an entire segment of the Palestinian population renders any security justifications implausible.”
Additionally, the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine charged that the Israeli policies “constitute flagrant and systematic violations of rights guaranteed under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and cannot be justified.”
It went on to state that these policies are intended to undermine education and erode the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem as part of a broader, long-term strategy aimed at future generations.
In an interview with ACI MENA, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem official George Akroush summed up the controversy, saying “targeting schools is targeting the future.”
He called on the international community and churches worldwide to closely monitor the situation, safeguard historic Christian properties, and guarantee that teachers can travel freely to their workplaces.
The Church seeks only “to preserve its natural right to remain, serve, and educate in its sacred city,” he concluded.
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