Most of Israel’s Arab schools noticed a one-day strike on Monday in solidarity with Christian schools which have been protesting state fund cuts, Palestinian and Israeli officers stated.
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Officials from the Office of the Christian Schools in Israel and administrators of non-Catholic schools declared the strike in late August, after a year-and-a-half of negotiations with the Ministry of Education failed to secure the funding Christian leaders say is necessary to keep the schools running.
Several thousand striking Christian protesters have demonstrated in Jerusalem against funding cuts and what they describe as unequal treatment by Israel’s education ministry.
A dozen Arab Israeli members of the Israeli Knesset also joined Sunday’s demonstration as armed police stood guard outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
According to Haaretz, church schools in Israel are in the “recognized but unofficial” category, which means that those schools are not a part of the state school system even though those are accredited by the government.
But Wadie Abu Nassar, another school official, said Jewish schools recognised by the state but not considered official public schools receive funds that cover 100 per cent of their needs.
Schools officials said the strike will end only when the authorities in the Jewish state meet their demands.
The Christian faculty strike impacts 33,000 pupils, forty % of whom are Muslim. “We’re here to demand equal rights, nothing more, nothing less”. “There is no equality for our schools”, said Ragheed Massad, a student from Nazareth.
The rally came after Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin met on Thursday with Pope Francis at the Vatican, and amidst a string of attacks on Christian holy sites by ultra-nationalist Jews. Although they only represent 4% of all schools, about “30% of Arab professors” in Israel were educated there.
“We don’t want to simply maintain our schools”, Fakhoury said.
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“We’re a minority and when you’re a minority it’s hard”.
