Torn down: Palestinian schools destroyed by

Israel at start of new year

Back to school for many means a fresh start, but for some Palestinian children it
has meant a return to destruction and violence

Schoolchildren sit patiently as Palestinian activists set up a tent for them to attend
class (MEE/ Chlo Benoist)

Chlo Benoist- Thursday 24 August 2017

Scores of children from Jubbet al-Dhib and neighboring

villages in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem were expecting
Wednesday to be the first day of school in a brand new primary school, funded by
the European Union (EU).
On Tuesday evening, however, Israeli forces tore down six prefab classrooms and
confiscated all the construction material, leaving behind only piles of childrens
chairs on the bare concrete.
Childrens chairs discarded by Israeli forces during the demolition (MEE/ Chlo
Benoist)
The residents of Jubbet al-Dhib are in shock. They are not people at all, those
who would demolish a school, they are not human at all, Manal Zawahra, a
resident of Jubbet al-Dhib, told journalists on Wednesday.
We dont do anything to their children, so why do they do this to ours? We want
to live in peace, but they arent letting us," the mother of six added.

Students
attend class in a cramped room in Hatin elementary school in the village of Beit
Tamir (MEE/ Chlo Benoist)
Jubbet al-Dhib is the third Palestinian school to be demolished or see its
infrastructure confiscated by Israeli forces since the beginning of the month. This
includes the only kindergarten for the Jabal al-Baba Bedouin community and
dismantling the solar panels - the only source of power - for a school in Abu
Nuwar.
The EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah expressed "strong concern" in
a statement on Thursday, following the confiscation of structures of Palestinian
schools in the Bedouin communities.

Palestinian children sit in the tent set up to replace the prefabricated classrooms
at Jubbet al-Dhib (MEE/ Chlo Benoist)
"Every child has the right to safe access to education and states have an
obligation to protect, respect and fulfill this right, by ensuring that schools are
inviolable safe spaces for children," the statement read, calling on Israel "to halt
demolitions and confiscations of Palestinian houses and property in accordance
with its obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law."
Act of defiance
Despite the demolition, primary school children showed up early on Wednesday
morning at the school grounds and helped arrange the discarded chairs, as
activists set up a tent shelter on the ruined foundations of the prefabricated
classrooms.

Young boys sit on the cement foundations where the prefabricated classrooms of
the Jubbet al-Dhib school stood hours earlier (MEE/ Chlo Benoist)
Some 60 children crammed inside the tent and sang the Palestinian national
anthem, as teachers held classes on the site as a symbolic show of defiance
against discriminatory Israeli policies against Palestinians.

Children and activists crowd inside the tent as class starts (MEE/ Chlo Benoist)
This place does not represent any danger to anyone. Its not dangerous for
[Israeli] tanks or planes, Sami Mroueh, the Palestinian Authority director of
education in the Bethlehem district, told MEE. The aggressive attack on this
place is attacking human rights in general and childrens rights in particular.

Jubbet al-Dhib mother Manal Zawahra peers inside the tent, which reads Jubbet
al-Dhib school, a thorn in the throat of the occupation. We read, we learn, we
liberate for return (MEE/ Chlo Benoist)
While Mroueh insisted that we will stay here and we will continue teaching [the
students] here, NGO workers involved with the school said that the looming
threat of further Israeli action, coupled with the difficulties of teaching in an
overcrowded tent in inclement weather, made the option unlikely in the
foreseeable future.
Psychological violence
Israeli human rights organisation BTselem said in a statement issued on
Wednesday, that 80 children were affected by the schools demolition. It stated
that the Israeli move epitomises the administrative cruelty and systematic
harassment by authorities designed to drive Palestinians from their land.
Leftover sound bombs and casings for rubber-coated steel bullets fired by Israeli
forces during the demolition (MEE/ Chlo Benoist)
A coordinator for a French NGO involved in building the school, who requested
anonymity, told Middle East Eye that the demolition represented psychological
violence against the young students.
For children that age, something like this makes you understand overnight what
your place is in the world, he said.
'They are not people at all, those who would demolish a school, they are not
human at all'
- Manal Zawahra, mother
The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli
military agency in charge of implementing Israeli policies in the occupied
Palestinian territory, justified the demolition, stating the lack of Israeli-issued
construction permits.
The building in Jib al-Dib [sic] was built illegally last weekend, a blunt violation of
stop-work orders and without receiving the required permits, a COGAT
spokesperson told Middle East Eye.
While locals told MEE that the restroom facilities, which remained the only
structure standing on Wednesday, had been the sole section of the school to have
received a stop-work order, COGAT stated that the caravan classrooms had also
received the order.
In July, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) stated that Israeli restrictions in Area C the two-thirds of the West Bank
under full Israeli military control had made it virtually impossible for
Palestinians to obtain building permits there, unlike Israeli settlers, who were
often granted building permits.
According to OCHA, as a result of such Israeli policies, more than a third of
Palestinian communities in Area C lack primary schools, forcing children to travel
long distances to obtain an education.
'For children that age, something like this makes you understand overnight what
your place is in the world'
- coordinator, French NGO
In June, Israeli authorities had also confiscated around 60 solar panels - donated
by the Dutch government - providing Jubbet al-Dhib with much needed electricity.
'What are the ethical, human, or even legal principles that could justify
relentlessly targeting a community by denying them access to electricity, running
water, and now a school?'
- Coordinator, French NGO
BTselem reported a record number of demolitions of Palestinian homes in the
West Bank in 2016.
Israeli authorities have moved forward plans for thousands of housing units in
settlements in the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem since the beginning of
2017, in direct contravention of international law.
Access to education
Living on the dusty hills southeast of Bethlehem city, the children of Jubbet al-
Dhib must walk at least five kilometres to attend classes, through steep and hard-
to-navigate terrain, at the risk of encountering wild dogs, Israeli soldiers, or
residents of the adjacent illegal Israeli settlement of Nokdim where Israeli
Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman lives.

The site of the Jubbet al-Dhib school, located on a hillside in the southern
occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem on 23 August, 2017 (MEE/ Chlo
Benoist)
The difficult commute, combined with overcrowded classrooms and social stigma
levied against impoverished children from Jubbet al-Dhib in schools in the area,
have negatively affected the youngsters access to education for years.
The closest school to Jubbet al-Dhib, Hatin elementary school, located in the
village of Beit Tamir, consists of a house partially rented out by the Palestinian
Authority, which has been shoddily refurbished to host dozens of students in
former garages, as well as the windowless basement.
A small classroom in Beit Tamir villages Hatin elementary school, which would
typically host 20 students (MEE/ Chlo Benoist)
While residents have long called for the creation of a school in Jubbet al-Dhib, it
was only during the summer of 2016 that international organisations began
working to establish a school on village lands, whose construction was only
recently finalised, with funding from the EU.
Are they underestimating the distances my children have to walk every day? Its
kilometres under the sun or the rain and there is no transportation, said
Zawahra.
What are the ethical, human, or even legal principles that could justify
relentlessly targeting a community by denying them access to electricity, running
water, and now a school? the French NGO coordinator asked. What possible
justifications, if not to rationalise the expansion of a nearby colony, which itself is
truly illegal?"
Posted by Thavam