What’s happening?
Since September 2025, public schools run by the Palestinian Authority are open only three days a week instead of the usual five.
This is because teachers are striking over unpaid salaries due to Israel’s withholding of nearly 8 billions of shekels in Palestinian tax revenues since October 2023.
A recent UNICEF/OCHA humanitarian report estimates that around 808,000 school-aged children in the West Bank are affected in their learning due to a combination of access restrictions and disruption to schooling.
The consequences are dramatic for the children and their families: fading ambition, growing frustration, and profound psychological harm.
What you can do
Anywhere you are in the world, you can write to your representative to ask them to:
Raise this issue publicly within your country’s Parliament
Press your government to call on Israel to release Palestinian clearance revenues withheld under existing agreements
Ensure that your country’s foreign policy and international engagements actively uphold the protection of children’s rights, including the right to uninterrupted education in situations of occupation and conflict.
Download a template letter to send to your
representative here.
Everyone has the right to education.
Article 26 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
The Occupying Power shall, with the cooperation
of the national and local authorities, facilitate
the proper working of all institutions devoted
to the care and education of children.
Article 50 of the
IV Geneva Convention (1949)
Ratified by the State of Israel on July 6, 1951
Last posts
Events
Education Interrupted: Occupation of Palestinian Schools
17 FEBRUARY 2026
1:00PM EST丨6:00PM London丨8:00PM Jerusalem
Join us at for a conversation with Aisha Khatib, Sayel Jabareen, Iris Gur and Tuly Flint —who are raising the alarm for a quiet tactic of Israeli occupation. Together, they will share about the deteriorating education situation in the West Bank, share personal stories, and invite our participation to change the situation on the ground.
Actions
In February 2026, Combatants for Peace organized a press tour in Nablus to draw the attention of international media to the ongoing education crisis in the West Bank. More than 20 journalists from all around the world met with Aisha, public school principal in Nablus, as well as with children, teachers and parents affected by the situation.
Photos by Ghassan Bannoura
In August 2025, Combatants for Peace distributed school supplies to the children of displaced families from Ras Ein al-Auja ahead of the beginning of the school year.
Photos by David Johnson
