REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JERUSALEM -- All Arab schools in Israel, including some 450,000 pupils and thousands of workers, joined Monday an on-going strike in protest of the cutting of funds to Christian schools.

Leaders of the struggle said the one-day strike was held in protest of the "discriminatory budget allocations of funds to Christian schools" by the Israeli Ministry of Education.

"Any harm to the Christian education system impacts the entire Arab society, therefore all Arab schools go on strike, calling the government not to abandon these students," said Ayman Odeh, leader of the Arab-Jewish Joint List faction in the parliament.

Israel's 47 Christian schools have been on strike since the school year began on September 1. The strike affects about 33,000 pupils, the vast majority of them are of Arab descent.

On Sunday, students, parents and leaders of the Catholic Church rallied outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, demanding more funds for the schools.

Protesters said that while Jewish ultra-Orthodox schools are fully subsidized by the government, Christian schools were receiving only 75 percent of their budget from governmental funds. Recently, the government cut down its support to 29 percent.

The protesters said that despite the on-going strike, the government held no negotiations with them.

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