Some UNRWA-run schools were closed on Saturday after protests erupted over the removal of the name “Palestine" from sections of school textbooks, according to the Palestinian news agency Quds Press.
Palestinian organizations accused UNRWA’s leadership in Lebanon of what they described as a “dangerous deviation" from the agency’s mandate, arguing that the move represents a direct assault on Palestinian national identity and on the awareness of younger generations.
The Palestinian Return Institution said education in refugee camps is not a neutral administrative issue but a central pillar in safeguarding national memory. It warned that omitting the name Palestine from textbooks strips education of its national dimension and aligns with broader efforts to erase the refugee cause.
Meanwhile, a youth organization in the Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp emphasized that Palestine is more than a word in a textbook, calling it “the heart of the Palestinian cause, memory, and history." The group urged UNRWA to immediately reverse the decision.