‘Permits of humiliation’: How Israel strangles Christian education in Jerusalem
One of Jerusalem’s 15 Palestinian Christian schools, facing mounting Israeli restrictions on education and access. (Vatican News photo)
Fayha Shalash reports in The Palestine Chronicle on 20 January 2026:
Christian schools in Jerusalem staged a week-long strike to protest what they described as systematic and deliberate restrictions imposed by Israel.
Israel has prevented more than 230 teachers from the West Bank from obtaining permits to enter Jerusalem and carry out their work as usual in these schools.
These restrictions are not limited to permits or to Christian schools alone. Israeli authorities have long obstructed education in the city through multiple mechanisms, most notably preventing the provision of new classrooms, conducting frequent raids on schools, arresting and searching students and teachers, closing some schools under various pretexts, and preventing the renovation of their buildings.
There are 15 Christian schools in Jerusalem, educating more than 12,000 students from the city. They are considered among the oldest and most prestigious schools.
Since 2002, when Israel erected the apartheid wall around Jerusalem, it has prevented Palestinians from the West Bank from entering the city except with a special permit. This permit is granted only to specific categories, such as certain patients, workers, or employees, and for a very limited period.
Deliberate Obstruction
More than 230 teachers from Bethlehem, who have been working in Christian schools in Jerusalem since before the construction of the apartheid wall, are now forced to obtain special permits to continue their work.
Richard Zananiri, principal of the Bishop’s School in Jerusalem, told us that they were surprised by Israel’s refusal to grant the necessary permits to a large number of teachers. This has disrupted the school year and forced Christian schools to close their doors in protest against this new and punitive Israeli measure.