The Ministry of Education and Jerusalem Municipality Failed to Carry out the High Court’s Ruling to Build Hundreds of Classrooms in Arab Education System in Jerusalem Before the opening of the 2005-6 School Year

Israeli non-profit organization, Ir Amim, through its legal adviser, Daniel Seidemann, in conjunction with the Community Administration for the Development of Beit Hanina, the Kfar Aqab Residents’ Committee, the Issawiya Residents’ Committee, and City Council Member, Yosef (Pepe) Alalu, took a rare step against the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Education, according to the contempt of court ordinance. In the action it was claimed that not only did the two bodies fail to build 245 classrooms in East Jerusalem – as they were required to do by the High Court in 2001 – but rather, in this period the number of public school classrooms actually declined.

Ir Amim petitioned the High Court with a request to levy an ongoing fine on the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Education for disobeying the ruling of the High Court in August 2001. According to the organization, these bodies were required in 2001 to budget for, and to build, 245 new classrooms in the coming four years in the Arab school system in East Jerusalem.

From the ruling until today, only 47 new classrooms were budgeted, and only 13 of these were actually built. Moreover, instead of embarking upon a plan to speed up the building of additional classrooms, budget levels for new classrooms declined, in comparison to those of the two years preceding the ruling. In fact, the number of public school classrooms declined in the four years following the court’s ruling.

As a result, tens of thousands of Arab pupils in East Jerusalem cannot realize their right to free education under the law.

In addition, in the 2001 ruling, the High Court required the Jerusalem Municipality to enable every Arab child in East Jerusalem to register for public education, as provided under Israeli law. Until today, however, thousands of Arab children attempting to register for Jerusalem public schools are turned away. As a result, the Ministry of Education and the Municipality do not even know where, or whether, thousands of Arab children learn in East Jerusalem.

The Ministry of Education and the Jerusalem Municipality committed to absorbing every first grade child wanting to study in the public system. In many areas of the city this commitment is not kept. In Silwan, for example, a highly “original” solution was found: in order to absorb all first graders, the sixth grade classes were disbanded, and those pupils were sent to learn in private schools.

The petitioners request the Court to levy a set and ongoing fine on the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Education, for every day they prevent Arab pupils from registering for public school in East Jerusalem, and fail to carry out the specific and binding plan to budget and build 231 additional classrooms.

For additional information, please contact: Ran Aharon 972-54-668-7002.