We study the effect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on various education outcomes for
Palestinian high-school students in the West Bank during the Second Intifada (2000-
2006). Exploiting within-school variation in the number of conflict-related Palestinian
fatalities during the academic year, we show that the conflict reduces the probability to
pass the final exam, the total test score, and the probability to be admitted to university.
We also provide evidence of the heterogeneous effects of the conflict in terms of ability
of the student, timing of the conflict events, and type of violent events the student is
exposed to. Finally, we discuss a number of possible transmission mechanisms behind
our main results. We find evidence suggesting the role of conflict-induced deterioration
of school infrastructures and worsening in the psychological well-being of exposed
students.