RAMALLAH, September 1, 2025 (WAFA) - Following repeated warnings by the Palestinian Cabinet of the grave and mounting consequences of the ongoing all-out Israeli war against the Palestinian people and the ongoing withholding of Palestinian clearance revenues, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced earlier this week that it has been decided to postpone the beginning of the 2025/2026 school year in the West Bank to Monday, September 8, 2025.
These clearance revenues, which Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority under signed agreements and transfers them on a monthly basis, constitute more than two-thirds of the Palestinian Government’s total income, and are indispensable for sustaining essential public services, including education, healthcare, and social protection.
This decision comes against the backdrop of Israel’s unlawful withholding of Palestinian clearance revenues, now exceeding 10 billion shekels, and the suspension of all transfers for the fourth consecutive month, rendering the Palestinian Government unable to meet its obligations toward the Palestinian people, including paying salaries to public employees to sustain national institutions and public services.
The Israeli deliberate and systematic financial strangulation against the Palestinian National Authority has crippled the ability of Palestinian institutions to sustain essential public services. The education sector has been particularly hard hit, with the postponement depriving more than 623,000 students and over 40,000 teachers across the West Bank of beginning the school year on time.
In Gaza, as Israel’s genocidal war is extending into its second consecutive year, more than 700,000 students remain deprived of their right to education, including over 70,000 high school students who have been deprived of sitting for their high school final exams—placing their academic and professional future at risk.
The forced disruption of education to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children reflect the depth of the catastrophe facing the Palestinian people and the collapse of their institutions under siege and war. These deliberate actions undermine the basic human rights of children, whose education, safety, and future are being systematically jeopardized by an occupying Power that defies international law and community.
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