National and Civil Society Commission in Jerusalem and the Protection of National Education (2011–2022): A Case Study

Abstract

This qualitative study, through the design of a case study, examines the experience
of the National and Civil Society Commission in Jerusalem (hereinafter referred to as
the Commission).

As a community coordination framework that sought to protect national education
and confront Israel's policies in East Jerusalem during the period (20112022–). It aims
to analyze the Commission’s mechanisms of action, the conditions for its effectiveness,
and the limits of its sustainability in protecting national education. The study relied on
the analysis of various documents (position papers, reports, organizational documents.
proposals, and archival materials) along with five semi-structured interviews with
relevant actors, and the objective analysis was employed through coding, building
themes, and triangulating the evidence between documents and testimonies.

The results show that the targeting of education has taken on a complex character:
symbolic. cognitive pressure on the curriculum and the narrative, and continuous
administrative-institutional control (control, inspection, requirements, licensing) that
increases the cost of the educational decision and reduces the margin of maneuver
within the school. On the other hand, the Authority,s effectiveness in transforming
pluralism into an organizational capability was manifested through three intervention
packages: coordination and organization, mobilization and awareness, building the national educational argument, and intervention. response in case of escalation, with
a pivotal role for community partnerships, especially parents` committees, in reducing
school isolation and building a community protection network.

However, sustainability has been constrained by resource fluctuations and
internal governance challenges (overlapping roles, conflicting references, weak
documentation). The study concludes that the impact of the Commission ranges from
a symbolic dimension that unifies the discourse to a practical dimension that requires
institutionalization of follow-up, an extended plan and more stable resources, and
that the adaptability of the model in other contexts is conditional on the clarity of
reference, decision-making mechanisms, documentation, and community partnership.