RAMALLAH, April 8, 2025 (WAFA) – The Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ministry Tuesday condemned Israeli occupation authorities’ decision to shut down six UNRWA-affiliated schools in the occupied city of Jerusalem neighborhoods of Shuafat, Silwan, Sur Baher, and Wadi al-Joz.

The Ministry said in a press statement that shutting down the schools entailed depriving hundreds of students of their right to education and served as an attempt to influence students’ understanding of their own identity through the imposition of the Israeli curriculum as opposed to the Palestinian curriculum in East Jerusalem schools.

It described the Israeli decision as one that constitutes a gross violation not only of the UNRWA’s immunity and privileges but also of international law and the United Nations resolutions, which state that East Jerusalem is an integral part of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and the future capital of the State of Palestine.

It stressed that the occupation authorities’ decision to shut down the schools came as part of a systematic campaign of incitement against the UNRWA with such a campaign manifested in the forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and some of the refugee camps across the West Bank and the targeting of the UN agency’s premises and staff members.

It reiterated that it would continue to exert diplomatic and legal efforts in cooperation with international actors to guarantee that the agency effectively conducts its mandate as a separate entity within the United Nations system and as a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly by resolution 302 (IV), from which UNRWA derives its mandate to provide continued assistance to the Palestine refugees.

It called for the intensification of international efforts intended to safeguard the UNRWA’s mandate pending the realization of the Palestinian refugees’ rights and finding a just solution to the Palestinian cause in line with international law and the UN resolutions, particularly UN resolution 194 (III) on the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland and their right to remedy for the damage they suffered.

K.F.