Brussels – Belgium
At a time when attacks on Palestinian rights are intensifying, institutions within the European Union—led by the European Commission—are taking concrete steps to condition funding for the Palestinian education sector on political requirements related to altering curricula, in line with Israeli policies aimed at dismantling Palestinian education. This turns humanitarian aid into a mechanism of coercion targeting Palestinian national consciousness and identity.
Handala Association – Belgium denounces the so-called principle of “conditional funding,” as reflected in recent European debates and decisions on Palestinian curricula, as a tool of political domination and intellectual control imposed over the Palestinian people, in blatant violation of their right to cultural, educational, and academic self-determination.
The Association firmly rejects these policies and stresses that linking educational support to imposed content restructuring is not a technical or administrative matter, but a direct act of political interference in shaping collective consciousness. Any attempt to erase historical narratives, distort identity, or redefine the meaning of resistance constitutes a cultural assault on the collective memory and lived struggle of the Palestinian people.
Efforts to remove the concept of resistance, strip education of its national content, or detach Palestinian history from its context represent full alignment with colonial policies and participation in the ongoing project to reshape Palestinian consciousness in service of domination.
The Association affirms that the Palestinian curriculum is a frontline of cultural and national struggle, central to preserving memory, strengthening collective awareness, and transmitting the Palestinian narrative across generations as part of the broader struggle for liberation and existence.
These policies cannot be separated from the daily reality of Palestinian students and teachers, who face systematic attacks on educational infrastructure. External interference in educational content therefore forms part of a wider structure of ongoing settler-colonial violence targeting education in Palestine.
Handala Association – Belgium warns that the continuation of such policies positions the European Union as a direct accomplice in the ongoing cultural, educational, and epistemic erasure of the Palestinian people, alongside the continuing genocide on the ground.
We affirm that Palestinian identity is not negotiable. Palestinian education will remain free, independent, and rooted in the lived experience, history, and struggle of its people. We categorically reject the transformation of international support into a mechanism of political blackmail.
We therefore call for:
The immediate reversal of any decision linking education funding to political or ideological conditions
Full respect for the independence of Palestinian educational decision-making
A fundamental review of European policies that weaponize education as a tool of pressure
We further call on all progressive, anti-colonial, and human rights forces, as well as free voices across Europe, to move beyond symbolic statements and take concrete action to confront these policies and defend the Palestinian people’s right to shape their own consciousness and narrative—free from guardianship, censorship, or imposed authority.
Handala Association – Belgium
02/05/2026
