Christian schools in Jerusalem suspend classes after Israel refuses to renew entry permits for staff

All Christian schools in Jerusalem suspended classes on Tuesday to protest Israel's refusal to renew entry permits to East Jerusalem and Israel for more than 70 teachers and staff members from the West Bank. This measure affects more than 8,500 students, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

"As our schools were preparing for the 2026-2027 academic year, we were unfortunately surprised once again by the non-renewal of entry permits for more than 70 teachers and educational, administrative and support staff," said the general secretariat of Christian Educational Institutions of Jerusalem in a statement.

This decision, made "suddenly and without prior notice," prevents them from joining their schools and directly hampers preparations for the school year, it added.

Israel imposes restrictions on the movement of three million Palestinians in the West Bank, a territory it has occupied since 1967. The Israeli state says it has built what it calls the "security barrier" to protect its territory from attacks originating in the West Bank.

For Palestinians, this barrier — made of barbed wire, electric fences and concrete walls — is the "apartheid wall," one of the most hated symbols of the occupation. They must obtain permits to pass military checkpoints into East Jerusalem or Israel.

Since the start of Israel's military onslaught on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has suspended numerous permits that allowed Palestinians to come to work, alleging security reasons, as it has often done to justify such arbitrary restrictions.

Impossible to guarantee a 'safe and stable' school start: General Secretariat

According to the General Secretariat, the absence of these employees affects several aspects of the schools' functioning, notably educational, administrative and healthcare services, as well as cleaning and security arrangements, making it impossible to "guarantee a safe and stable school start" for students.

After consulting with relevant authorities, parent representatives and Jerusalem schools, it was decided to suspend classes from Tuesday morning until the necessary permits are once again issued and renewed so that teaching can resume "in safe and appropriate conditions."

While reaffirming the "total commitment" of Christian schools to the students' right to education, the General Secretariat emphasized the importance of these institutions’ educational mission, which constitutes "an essential part of our identity, our culture and our presence in the city of Jerusalem," and helps to shape generations "founded on knowledge, values, belonging and responsibility."

It lamented the repetition of such measures, which "compromise the stability of our schools, hinder their ability to fulfill their mission, and negatively affect students, their families, educational staff and society as a whole." The General Secretariat also expressed hope that "this crisis will be resolved as quickly as possible" and that such measures will not be repeated, in order to preserve the stability of the institutions, guarantee regular and safe teaching for students and enable schools to continue their "educational and humanitarian mission."

Meanwhile, Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem in the West Bank, condemned the Israeli measure. "The pressure exerted by Israel on the Christian presence in Jerusalem continues," he wrote on the social network X. "The Christian schools in the city are going on strike because Israel refuses to grant permits to their teachers from the West Bank," he added.

This suspension of classes comes in a wider context marked by an increase in attacks against Christians by Israeli extremists in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The West Bank and Jerusalem are home to some 50,000 Palestinian Christians, members of a religious community present in the region since antiquity, at the heart of a land that includes several of Christianity’s holiest sites.

At the end of August, a Jerusalem court acquitted a man accused of assaulting, three months earlier, a French Christian nun in the Old City. He had been arrested in April by Israeli police, who suspected a racially motivated attack.

In March, Israeli police prevented Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass.

According to the church, it was the first time in centuries that a religious leader of this rank was prevented from performing this rite.