From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
In response to East Jerusalem school strike, Israel claims all eligible West Bank teachers received entry permits
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleNurit Yohanan is The Times of Israel's Palestinian and Arab world correspondent
The Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) responds to a strike launched this morning by dozens of schools in East Jerusalem, rejecting claims that teachers from the West Bank have not been allowed to enter East Jerusalem to work at the schools.
COGAT tells The Times of Israel that “the claim that there are dozens of teachers without entry permits is incorrect. All teachers and staff eligible for entry permits received designated permits, following security clearance and an eligibility review, before the start of the school year.”
Today, private schools in East Jerusalem announced an open-ended strike to protest what they say is Israel’s failure to allow teachers from the West Bank to enter Jerusalem.
Over the past three years, since the October 7, 2023, massacre, there have been increasing reports of difficulties faced by Palestinian teachers from the West Bank seeking to enter Jerusalem for work, amid sweeping restrictions on the issuance and renewal of entry permits for West Bank residents.
The Times of Israel Community.