Limited statehood and the rule of law: East Jerusalem’s education system as a case study

This chapter considers the challenges posed to the rule of law by Israel’s limited statehood in East Jerusalem. It focuses on the education system, where local resistance to Israeli administration has been the strongest. The chapter analyses Israel’s response to this resistance through three main strategies: enforcement of the law, including through force; adaptation of the law; and turning a blind eye to violations of the law. While, to a large extent, these strategies have succeeded to obfuscate the gap between Israel’s intended policies and realities on the ground, they cannot fully vitiate the impairment of the rule of law, because they themselves compromise it.