Infrastructure and services

Despite being required to pay municipal taxes like all city residents, Palestinians in East Jerusalem face discrimination in the provision of municipal services and infrastructure.

Education

The total number of students enrolled in Arab schools in East Jerusalem is 107,290. According to a recent report by Ir Amim, which draws on data from the Jerusalem Municipality, East Jerusalem’s education system suffers from a shortage of approximately 1,461 classrooms, spaces needed to accommodate tens of thousands of students. Only 20 new classrooms were added ahead of the 2025-2026 school year. Both the Ministry of Education and the Jerusalem Municipality have clarified that any new schools, if built, would be city-owned and required to teach the Israeli curriculum. The Knesset’s Education Committee is also advancing legislation to bar teachers who studied at Palestinian higher education institutions from teaching in East Jerusalem, which is expected to exacerbate the teacher shortage and the plight of East Jerusalem’s students.​

As a result of legislation banning UNRWA activities in Israel, six UNRWA-run schools in East Jerusalem, which served 1,100 students, were closed in 2025. Due to the classroom shortage, only a small number of the students were able to be absorbed into other schools. Hundreds of others, many from the Shu’fat Refugee Camp, were forced to switch to remote learning. Most of the affected students were not placed at the beginning of the current school year either, in violation of the state’s obligation to provide an education for all students.

These trends demonstrate a disregard for the best interests of the children, which should be central to any decision affecting them. It is a violation of their right to education and equality, and also widens disparities among children and youth from different neighborhoods in East Jerusalem itself. Predictably and regrettably, each year about 3,000 students, 3% of the total student population in East Jerusalem, drop out of school. The dropout rate is higher than that of the overall student population in Israel, both Jewish and Arab.

For further reading:Ir Amim, East Jerusalem Education Report, School Year 2024–2025, August 2025Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Hundreds of East Jerusalem Children Have Been Left Without Schools

Water​

Despite the state’s undisputed obligation to supply water to all its citizens and residents, since June 2024, water service for residents of Kafr Aqab has been drastically reduced. This large neighborhood, which lies within Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries, is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians who are permanent residents or citizens of Israel. At the height of summer, residents were left with only four to 12 hours of running water per week, infringing on their rights to water, health, dignity, and equality. This lack of an adequate water supply was the result of a bureaucratic impasse that residents were neither responsible for, nor one they could control, caused by the fact that the water supplied to Kafr Aqab residents is purchased from the Israeli provider Mekorot but delivered by the Ramallah water company, which is not a licensed supplier in Israel. This unusual bureaucratic conundrum has been met with indifference from the Israeli authorities, who have shifted the blame onto the Palestinian Authority, shirking their legal duty to supply water to all Israeli residents.

Following a High Court petition filed by residents, ACRI, and Ir Amim, the state indicated that the authorities had concluded that there was cause to install drinking water distribution stations in Kafr Aqab, subject to security approvals. On September 30, 2025, the court issued an order nisi requiring the state to explain why Kafr Aqab residents should not receive a regular, uninterrupted water supply of adequate quality and pressure for all personal, domestic, and public needs.

Infrastructure and municipal services

Residents of East Jerusalem neighborhoods, particularly those beyond the Separation Barrier, continue to experience significant service deficits. Public and municipal services in East Jerusalem are less accessible and lower quality than those provided in West Jerusalem, and local infrastructure remains poor.

Roads and sidewalks are left unpaved, often in violation of judicial decisions. As a result, residents are forced to contend with mud in the winter and dust and pollution in the summer. Routes used exclusively or primarily by the Palestinian population are consistently plagued by safety hazards.

Poor drainage and overflowing sewage are recurring issues during the winter, while cleaning and sanitation services are lacking. For example, in January 2025, waste collection was suspended in the Dahiyat al-Salaam neighborhood. In May 2025, waste collection in Kafr Aqab was disrupted, causing hazards and attracting pests. The Jerusalem Municipality and security forces obstructed waste collection trucks, and required security clearance for travel through checkpoints. The issue was resolved, and waste collection in Kafr Aqab resumed after ACRI intervened with the municipality on the residents’ behalf.

East Jerusalem continues to suffer from serious environmental hazards, including unregulated waste sites that emit smoke or cause fires. The municipality shifts blame to those who break the law and dump waste at these sites (often waste removal and construction contractors operating illegally) instead of ensuring effective enforcement and remediation of the sites, even after repeated appeals by human rights and environmental organizations.

For more on this subject, including additional efforts to protect the rights of East Jerusalem residents, see: ACRI, East Jerusalem