COGAT says Palestinian teachers on strike in Jerusalem received entry permits, doesn’t address allegation that days limited

Responding to a strike declared by the General Secretariat of Christian Educational Institutions in Jerusalem, COGAT, the Israeli body that oversees entry permits for Palestinians coming in from the West Bank, says “the claim that there are dozens of teachers without approved crossing permits is incorrect.”

“All teachers who are eligible for crossing permits received a designated permit following the required security screening,” a spokesman for COGAT says.

But Richard Zananiri, director of the private St. George’s School and a member of the Secretariat, says the problem is that the new entry permits exclude Fridays and Sundays, when schools hold educations programs and extracurricular activities.

The move affects more than half of the roughly 300 teachers employed across all private schools in the city, while the strike, now in its fourth day, affects around 20,000 students, including 8,500 pupils in 15 Christian schools, according to Zananiri.