13 dec 2017
Israeli teams of the so-called civil administration on Wednesday raided Abu Nuwar Bedouin neighborhood east of Occupied Jerusalem and handed over a demolition notice against a school in the area.
Quds Press quoted the spokesman of the Bedouin community, Abu Emad al-Jahalein, as saying that the inhabitants were shocked of the news especially after they had obtained a Supreme Court decision against the school demolition order.
He pointed out that the school consists of two floors and offers education services to 26 students.
Israeli authorities plan to expel the Bedouins from east Jerusalem for the sake of completing the E1 settlement project which aims at separating the southern West Bank from its northern part and accordingly have full control over Occupied Jerusalem.
Quds Press quoted the spokesman of the Bedouin community, Abu Emad al-Jahalein, as saying that the inhabitants were shocked of the news especially after they had obtained a Supreme Court decision against the school demolition order.
He pointed out that the school consists of two floors and offers education services to 26 students.
Israeli authorities plan to expel the Bedouins from east Jerusalem for the sake of completing the E1 settlement project which aims at separating the southern West Bank from its northern part and accordingly have full control over Occupied Jerusalem.
12 dec 2017
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Tuesday broke into Palestine Technical University in al-Arroub camp to the north of al-Khalil city and arrested a sick student from an ambulance that was transferring him to the hospital.
Eyewitnesses reported that the student Ibrahim al-Halabi, who is a resident of Doura town, suffered tear gas inhalation after the IOF soldiers attacked the university students with tear gas canisters.
They added that the IOF chased the ambulance, stopped it and kidnapped Halabi who also suffers from liver problems.
The IOF soldiers stormed the university building after a settler was injured of stone throwing while passing near the clashes the erupted between Palestinian youths and the IOF at al-Arroub entrance.
Eyewitnesses reported that the student Ibrahim al-Halabi, who is a resident of Doura town, suffered tear gas inhalation after the IOF soldiers attacked the university students with tear gas canisters.
They added that the IOF chased the ambulance, stopped it and kidnapped Halabi who also suffers from liver problems.
The IOF soldiers stormed the university building after a settler was injured of stone throwing while passing near the clashes the erupted between Palestinian youths and the IOF at al-Arroub entrance.
9 dec 2017
As part of Israel’s attempt to claim occupied East Jerusalem part of its capital, it started to imposed Israeli curriculum on Palestinian schools.
by Jaclynn Ashly
The Zahwat al-Quds kindergarten and primary school’s walls are decorated with colourful cartoons, while its students are dressed in grey-and-red striped uniforms.
The children’s wide smiles and laughter echo through the hallways, belying their lingering anxiety after a recent Israeli raid on the school.
At the start of the school year, Israel began targeting Zahwat al-Quds – which serves some 90 students between the ages of three and nine in the neighbourhood of Beit Hanina – because staff refused to teach the Israeli curriculum, according to parents and school staff.
“Israel wants everything under their control,” school cofounder Muna Ateeq told Al Jazeera, speaking under a pseudonym for fear of repercussions.
“They really want to influence education so that they can more easily control the next generation of Palestinians.”
Permit revoked
There are three types of schools in occupied East Jerusalem: public, private and Palestinian government schools. All have different experiences and relationships with the Israeli state.
Zahwat al-Quds is a private school that had an Israeli permit and funding from the Jerusalem municipality up until July, when Israel abruptly revoked its permit. The school has since obtained a permit from the Islamic Waqf, which is connected to the Palestinian government.
The Israeli permit was revoked as part of Israel’s goal to shut down private Palestinian schools in occupied East Jerusalem that teach the Palestinian curriculum, and to force students to attend the public schools that are directly controlled by Israel, Ateeq said.
In September, three Israeli officials entered Zahwat al-Quds to notify staff that it was being shut down. They returned last month, searching classrooms, detaining three teachers and the deputy principal, and photographing some of the children. One child urinated on herself and another fainted during the incident, Ateeq said.
Ziad al-Shamali, who heads an East Jerusalem parents’ committee, told Al Jazeera that some children began experiencing nightmares and bed-wetting after the raid, citing “lasting psychological impacts”. Parents are getting scared to send their children to school, he added.
“They can’t shut us down legally, so they put pressure on us socially in order to force us to close,” Ateeq said.
According to some Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the raids on Zahwat al-Quds come in the context of Israel’s goal to systematically depoliticise young Palestinians by pushing them into public schools, where Israel can more easily control what they are learning.
“Israel doesn’t want the children to learn about what has happened here,” Ateeq said. “They hope that in the future, everyone will eventually forget about it.”
Blank pages
Israel did not decide to impose its education curriculum on Palestinian schools overnight. According to Samira Alayan, a researcher and lecturer at Hebrew University who has been studying this issue for a decade, Israel has tried to control Palestinian education in East Jerusalem since 1967, when Israel occupied and subsequently annexed the territory.
In East Jerusalem’s public schools, a censored version of the Palestinian curriculum is taught. “When the books arrive in Jerusalem, Israeli authorities peruse them and delete sentences and paragraphs that are against Israeli ideologies,” Alayan told Al Jazeera.
She noted that Israel is “looking for any content offensive to Israel, including anti-Israeli expressions and any mention of [the] Palestinian Authority”.
The result is textbooks missing paragraphs and sentences, and sometimes entire pages are blank. Israel perceives this censorship as a preventive tool against Palestinian “incitement”, Alayan noted in a 2017 article exploring the issue.
However, “another purpose could be to prevent the students from developing a positive sense of identity based on the Palestinian narrative”, Alayan wrote.
“This implicit aim of censorship is yet another example of a wish to erase or eliminate the Palestinian narrative by the settler colonialist regime.”
This censorship was a compromise for the Israeli state, after Palestinians in Jerusalem flat-out rejected the Israeli curriculum during the early years of occupation. Israel’s goal is to teach Palestinians that the land of historic Palestine was in fact empty of people when the state of Israel was founded in 1948, and that Arthur Balfour gave this uninhabited land to the Jews.
“It doesn’t teach you anything about being Palestinian,” Alayan said.
Sawsan Safadi, the head of public and international relations at the Waqf’s education department, told Al Jazeera that Israel aims “to create a new generation of Palestinians who feel like the occupation is normal, which will lead to them recognising themselves as Israelis, not Palestinians”.
Imposition of curriculum
Israel is attempting to further its claims that Jerusalem is a part of Israel, rather than an integral part of a future Palestinian state, by changing facts on the ground, Shamali noted.
“They want to show the world that this is an Israeli city with Israeli schools that even play the Israeli national anthem,” Shamali said, adding that Israel has even changed street names and locations to Israeli ones on GPS and on Facebook, knowing that younger generations rely heavily on such technology.
Israel’s efforts have been meeting with success, as more than 20 Palestinian schools in occupied East Jerusalem have introduced an option to study an Arabic version of the Israeli curriculum. The identities of East Jerusalem Palestinians have been eroded due to their statelessness and their physical separation from the rest of the occupied territory by Israel’s separation wall, Alayan said.
The funding and management of schools are completely controlled by Israel, which provides an increased budget for those willing to accept the Israeli curriculum, Alayan noted.
“The control Israel has on schools has created a culture of silence, whereby people are accepting things even though they don’t agree with it,” she said.
Routine raids
From the second level of the Dar al-Aytam boys secondary school in the Old City, the golden Dome of the Rock can be seen clearly, but Israeli raids routinely interrupt this serene landscape.
Israeli police, soldiers and special forces regularly raid the school, allegedly searching for students who have thrown stones at Israeli officials near the school.
Safadi says such allegations are often false, pointing to several locations from where boys were alleged to have thrown stones; tall metal barriers and fencing would make this impossible.
According to the school’s principal, Fadi Khalil, Dar al-Aytam was raided more than 10 times last year. During one such raid, the former principal was detained and expelled from the Old City for 45 days.
“This school is the second-largest compound in the Old City after al-Aqsa,” Khalil said. “The Israelis have had their eyes on it for a long time. They are working very hard to uproot the school from the city.”
An Israeli police spokesperson did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the matter.
As at Zahwat al-Quds, the raids have had an effect: Of the 250 students who attended Dar al-Aytam last year, 58 have dropped out.
Mumen al-Taweel, 18, was just 14 when he was sent to Israel’s HaSharon prison for allegedly throwing stones. He spent a year and a half there. “We all want to study, but Israel doesn’t want us to continue our education,” he said.
Another student, 16-year-old Amir al-Rishid, was first detained when he was 10 for possessing nail cutters after a search by Israeli forces. Rishid says he has lost count of the number of times he has been arrested by Israel.
“Israel wants us to have police records at a young age, so in the future it will be difficult for us to continue our education or get good jobs. This is an intentional policy,” Rishid said.
Tahseen Elayyan, head of the monitoring and documentation department at the Palestinian human rights NGO al-Haq, told Al Jazeera that the raids and the attempts to push the Israeli curriculum on Palestinian schools are related to Israel’s ultimate goal of expelling Palestinians from the land.
“Israel wants the land, but not the people,” Elayyan said. “Palestinians who remain in Jerusalem – if the plan to push Palestinians out of the city succeeds – have to accept Israel’s narrative.”
by Jaclynn Ashly
The Zahwat al-Quds kindergarten and primary school’s walls are decorated with colourful cartoons, while its students are dressed in grey-and-red striped uniforms.
The children’s wide smiles and laughter echo through the hallways, belying their lingering anxiety after a recent Israeli raid on the school.
At the start of the school year, Israel began targeting Zahwat al-Quds – which serves some 90 students between the ages of three and nine in the neighbourhood of Beit Hanina – because staff refused to teach the Israeli curriculum, according to parents and school staff.
“Israel wants everything under their control,” school cofounder Muna Ateeq told Al Jazeera, speaking under a pseudonym for fear of repercussions.
“They really want to influence education so that they can more easily control the next generation of Palestinians.”
Permit revoked
There are three types of schools in occupied East Jerusalem: public, private and Palestinian government schools. All have different experiences and relationships with the Israeli state.
Zahwat al-Quds is a private school that had an Israeli permit and funding from the Jerusalem municipality up until July, when Israel abruptly revoked its permit. The school has since obtained a permit from the Islamic Waqf, which is connected to the Palestinian government.
The Israeli permit was revoked as part of Israel’s goal to shut down private Palestinian schools in occupied East Jerusalem that teach the Palestinian curriculum, and to force students to attend the public schools that are directly controlled by Israel, Ateeq said.
In September, three Israeli officials entered Zahwat al-Quds to notify staff that it was being shut down. They returned last month, searching classrooms, detaining three teachers and the deputy principal, and photographing some of the children. One child urinated on herself and another fainted during the incident, Ateeq said.
Ziad al-Shamali, who heads an East Jerusalem parents’ committee, told Al Jazeera that some children began experiencing nightmares and bed-wetting after the raid, citing “lasting psychological impacts”. Parents are getting scared to send their children to school, he added.
“They can’t shut us down legally, so they put pressure on us socially in order to force us to close,” Ateeq said.
According to some Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the raids on Zahwat al-Quds come in the context of Israel’s goal to systematically depoliticise young Palestinians by pushing them into public schools, where Israel can more easily control what they are learning.
“Israel doesn’t want the children to learn about what has happened here,” Ateeq said. “They hope that in the future, everyone will eventually forget about it.”
Blank pages
Israel did not decide to impose its education curriculum on Palestinian schools overnight. According to Samira Alayan, a researcher and lecturer at Hebrew University who has been studying this issue for a decade, Israel has tried to control Palestinian education in East Jerusalem since 1967, when Israel occupied and subsequently annexed the territory.
In East Jerusalem’s public schools, a censored version of the Palestinian curriculum is taught. “When the books arrive in Jerusalem, Israeli authorities peruse them and delete sentences and paragraphs that are against Israeli ideologies,” Alayan told Al Jazeera.
She noted that Israel is “looking for any content offensive to Israel, including anti-Israeli expressions and any mention of [the] Palestinian Authority”.
The result is textbooks missing paragraphs and sentences, and sometimes entire pages are blank. Israel perceives this censorship as a preventive tool against Palestinian “incitement”, Alayan noted in a 2017 article exploring the issue.
However, “another purpose could be to prevent the students from developing a positive sense of identity based on the Palestinian narrative”, Alayan wrote.
“This implicit aim of censorship is yet another example of a wish to erase or eliminate the Palestinian narrative by the settler colonialist regime.”
This censorship was a compromise for the Israeli state, after Palestinians in Jerusalem flat-out rejected the Israeli curriculum during the early years of occupation. Israel’s goal is to teach Palestinians that the land of historic Palestine was in fact empty of people when the state of Israel was founded in 1948, and that Arthur Balfour gave this uninhabited land to the Jews.
“It doesn’t teach you anything about being Palestinian,” Alayan said.
Sawsan Safadi, the head of public and international relations at the Waqf’s education department, told Al Jazeera that Israel aims “to create a new generation of Palestinians who feel like the occupation is normal, which will lead to them recognising themselves as Israelis, not Palestinians”.
Imposition of curriculum
Israel is attempting to further its claims that Jerusalem is a part of Israel, rather than an integral part of a future Palestinian state, by changing facts on the ground, Shamali noted.
“They want to show the world that this is an Israeli city with Israeli schools that even play the Israeli national anthem,” Shamali said, adding that Israel has even changed street names and locations to Israeli ones on GPS and on Facebook, knowing that younger generations rely heavily on such technology.
Israel’s efforts have been meeting with success, as more than 20 Palestinian schools in occupied East Jerusalem have introduced an option to study an Arabic version of the Israeli curriculum. The identities of East Jerusalem Palestinians have been eroded due to their statelessness and their physical separation from the rest of the occupied territory by Israel’s separation wall, Alayan said.
The funding and management of schools are completely controlled by Israel, which provides an increased budget for those willing to accept the Israeli curriculum, Alayan noted.
“The control Israel has on schools has created a culture of silence, whereby people are accepting things even though they don’t agree with it,” she said.
Routine raids
From the second level of the Dar al-Aytam boys secondary school in the Old City, the golden Dome of the Rock can be seen clearly, but Israeli raids routinely interrupt this serene landscape.
Israeli police, soldiers and special forces regularly raid the school, allegedly searching for students who have thrown stones at Israeli officials near the school.
Safadi says such allegations are often false, pointing to several locations from where boys were alleged to have thrown stones; tall metal barriers and fencing would make this impossible.
According to the school’s principal, Fadi Khalil, Dar al-Aytam was raided more than 10 times last year. During one such raid, the former principal was detained and expelled from the Old City for 45 days.
“This school is the second-largest compound in the Old City after al-Aqsa,” Khalil said. “The Israelis have had their eyes on it for a long time. They are working very hard to uproot the school from the city.”
An Israeli police spokesperson did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the matter.
As at Zahwat al-Quds, the raids have had an effect: Of the 250 students who attended Dar al-Aytam last year, 58 have dropped out.
Mumen al-Taweel, 18, was just 14 when he was sent to Israel’s HaSharon prison for allegedly throwing stones. He spent a year and a half there. “We all want to study, but Israel doesn’t want us to continue our education,” he said.
Another student, 16-year-old Amir al-Rishid, was first detained when he was 10 for possessing nail cutters after a search by Israeli forces. Rishid says he has lost count of the number of times he has been arrested by Israel.
“Israel wants us to have police records at a young age, so in the future it will be difficult for us to continue our education or get good jobs. This is an intentional policy,” Rishid said.
Tahseen Elayyan, head of the monitoring and documentation department at the Palestinian human rights NGO al-Haq, told Al Jazeera that the raids and the attempts to push the Israeli curriculum on Palestinian schools are related to Israel’s ultimate goal of expelling Palestinians from the land.
“Israel wants the land, but not the people,” Elayyan said. “Palestinians who remain in Jerusalem – if the plan to push Palestinians out of the city succeeds – have to accept Israel’s narrative.”
7 dec 2017
The Palestinian education ministry announced a general strike on Thursday to protest the U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The ministry said in a statement that the strike dovetails similar moves announced across the occupied Palestinian territories shortly after Trump’s decision was formally read out.
The ministry called on teachers and students to take part in expected mass demonstrations and marches in the West Bank, Occupied Jerusalem and the blockaded Gaza Strip.
In a speech in Washington, Trump said he had decided to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. embassy to the city. Arabs and Muslims across the Middle East condemned the U.S. decision, calling it an incendiary move and one that will fuel conflict and increase violence in the entire region.
By recognizing Israel’s claim to Jerusalem, Trump is siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in the conflict.
International news outlets said Trump’s “deplorable and unacceptable” move signified America’s withdrawal as a sponsor of the peace process.
Thousands rallied Wednesday across Palestine and the world against the announcement, burning U.S. and Israeli flags as well as pictures of Trump and Netanyahu.
The Hamas resistance group warned that Trump had opened “the gates of hell on US interests in the region.”
The ministry said in a statement that the strike dovetails similar moves announced across the occupied Palestinian territories shortly after Trump’s decision was formally read out.
The ministry called on teachers and students to take part in expected mass demonstrations and marches in the West Bank, Occupied Jerusalem and the blockaded Gaza Strip.
In a speech in Washington, Trump said he had decided to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. embassy to the city. Arabs and Muslims across the Middle East condemned the U.S. decision, calling it an incendiary move and one that will fuel conflict and increase violence in the entire region.
By recognizing Israel’s claim to Jerusalem, Trump is siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in the conflict.
International news outlets said Trump’s “deplorable and unacceptable” move signified America’s withdrawal as a sponsor of the peace process.
Thousands rallied Wednesday across Palestine and the world against the announcement, burning U.S. and Israeli flags as well as pictures of Trump and Netanyahu.
The Hamas resistance group warned that Trump had opened “the gates of hell on US interests in the region.”
6 dec 2017
The Israeli occupation forces in Khirbat Jerza, in the Tubas Wadi in the northern Jordan Valley, prevented school students from going to their schools and forced them to return to their homes on Wednesday morning.
Ameer Daraghmeh told the PIC reporter that the soldiers prevented the students from going to school and that his children were among the students who were forced to return home.
Human rights activist Arif Daraghmeh noted that the occupation army soldiers were deployed at the entrance of the village of Aqaba and Ainoun in Tubas this morning, pointing out that the Israeli occupation forces have been conducting military drills in many areas of the northern Jordan Valley since the early morning.
Ameer Daraghmeh told the PIC reporter that the soldiers prevented the students from going to school and that his children were among the students who were forced to return home.
Human rights activist Arif Daraghmeh noted that the occupation army soldiers were deployed at the entrance of the village of Aqaba and Ainoun in Tubas this morning, pointing out that the Israeli occupation forces have been conducting military drills in many areas of the northern Jordan Valley since the early morning.
3 dec 2017
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Sunday broke into two schools in al-Khader town to the south of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.
The coordinator of the anti-settlement and separation wall committee in the town, Ahmad Salah, said that the IOF incursion was made at school time for unreleased reasons and resulted in intimidation and panic among school students.
He added that clashes erupted after school time between the students and IOF soldiers who fired tear gas and stun grenades towards the children and detained some of them for a while. Luckily, no injuries were suffered.
The coordinator of the anti-settlement and separation wall committee in the town, Ahmad Salah, said that the IOF incursion was made at school time for unreleased reasons and resulted in intimidation and panic among school students.
He added that clashes erupted after school time between the students and IOF soldiers who fired tear gas and stun grenades towards the children and detained some of them for a while. Luckily, no injuries were suffered.
26 nov 2017
Britain has agreed to pay its annual contribution of 20 million pounds to support the Palestinian Authority (PA) budget, Minister of Education Sabri Saydam said on Saturday.
According to Saydam, part of the contribution will go to education as proof of Britain’s support for the development of the education sector.
The decision was announced during a telephone call Saydam received from the British Minister of State for International Development and Minister of State for the Middle East at the Foreign & Commonwealth, Office Alistair Burt.
Saydam said that the continued support of education by donor countries demonstrates the high level and confidence in the Palestinian educational system and its ability to achieve qualitative results.
He stressed the need to maintain this kind of support which helps strengthen the educational system.
He further pointed out that such support serves development goals and ministry plans for advancement especially after the recent first meeting for donors and international partners for education in Gaza, which recommended paying greater attention to the education sector in the blockaded Gaza Strip.
According to Saydam, part of the contribution will go to education as proof of Britain’s support for the development of the education sector.
The decision was announced during a telephone call Saydam received from the British Minister of State for International Development and Minister of State for the Middle East at the Foreign & Commonwealth, Office Alistair Burt.
Saydam said that the continued support of education by donor countries demonstrates the high level and confidence in the Palestinian educational system and its ability to achieve qualitative results.
He stressed the need to maintain this kind of support which helps strengthen the educational system.
He further pointed out that such support serves development goals and ministry plans for advancement especially after the recent first meeting for donors and international partners for education in Gaza, which recommended paying greater attention to the education sector in the blockaded Gaza Strip.
23 nov 2017
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested Thursday morning a Palestinian schoolboy at a military checkpoint near the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil.
Local sources reported that the nine-year-old boy Mohamed Da’na was arrested at Abu Rish military checkpoint while on his way to school for unknown reasons.
Some 300 Palestinian children are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to a statement issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on the Universal Children’s Day.
The Ramallah-based organization said that around 4,000 children had been detained by Israeli forces since October 2015, most of whom had been released.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have killed 14 Palestinian children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the start of this year, the sources added.
Local sources reported that the nine-year-old boy Mohamed Da’na was arrested at Abu Rish military checkpoint while on his way to school for unknown reasons.
Some 300 Palestinian children are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to a statement issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on the Universal Children’s Day.
The Ramallah-based organization said that around 4,000 children had been detained by Israeli forces since October 2015, most of whom had been released.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have killed 14 Palestinian children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the start of this year, the sources added.
21 nov 2017
On the anniversary of Universal Children’s Day, international NGO Save the Children released a statement highlighting ongoing the rights violations of Palestinian children in the occupied territory, by Israel.
Jennifer Moorehead, the country director of Save the Children in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) called for greater protection of schools and children’s right to education, saying that “children’s most fundamental right to education is being eroded.”
Moorehead highlighted the cases of 55 Palestinian schools in Area C, the more than 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli civilian and security control, that are under threat of demolition by Israeli forces.
“Distance, risky roads, the presence of settlers or of military checkpoints had presented insurmountable challenges for many children to reach the nearest schools,” Moorhead said.
“The challenges in the education sector reflect the increasing protection risks we are seeing across the occupied Palestinian territory,” she said, adding that “school demolitions, threats of violence and harassment, military presence in and around school premises and lack of adequate resources are all undermining children’s basic right to education.”
“These children are being denied a future in areas where unemployment has risen to among the highest in the world and restrictions on movement make it difficult to get to school or university or access vital healthcare.”
Save the Children called upon world leaders to take action to protect children’s “inalienable right” to safe access to a quality education and to guarantee the special protection afforded to children in areas of conflict.
“We call upon those with responsibility for upholding children’s rights in the oPt and world leaders to address the growing child protection risks in the education sector; to support and endorse the the Safe Schools Declaration and the related Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use; and to take concrete and immediate steps towards the demilitarisation of school spaces,” the statement concluded, according to Ma’an.
Jennifer Moorehead, the country director of Save the Children in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) called for greater protection of schools and children’s right to education, saying that “children’s most fundamental right to education is being eroded.”
Moorehead highlighted the cases of 55 Palestinian schools in Area C, the more than 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli civilian and security control, that are under threat of demolition by Israeli forces.
“Distance, risky roads, the presence of settlers or of military checkpoints had presented insurmountable challenges for many children to reach the nearest schools,” Moorhead said.
“The challenges in the education sector reflect the increasing protection risks we are seeing across the occupied Palestinian territory,” she said, adding that “school demolitions, threats of violence and harassment, military presence in and around school premises and lack of adequate resources are all undermining children’s basic right to education.”
“These children are being denied a future in areas where unemployment has risen to among the highest in the world and restrictions on movement make it difficult to get to school or university or access vital healthcare.”
Save the Children called upon world leaders to take action to protect children’s “inalienable right” to safe access to a quality education and to guarantee the special protection afforded to children in areas of conflict.
“We call upon those with responsibility for upholding children’s rights in the oPt and world leaders to address the growing child protection risks in the education sector; to support and endorse the the Safe Schools Declaration and the related Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use; and to take concrete and immediate steps towards the demilitarisation of school spaces,” the statement concluded, according to Ma’an.
20 nov 2017
22 Jordanian lawmakers on Sunday called on their government to curb what they called excesses committed by the management of the UNRWA in Jordan, especially its removal of Palestine maps and Jerusalem photos from its schools.
In a letter addressed to premier Hani al-Mulki, the lawmakers accused UNRWA director Roger Davies of disrespecting the Palestinian identity and ignoring the rightful demands of the agency’s employees in Jordan, according to Quds Press.
They stated that the UNRWA worked, at the behest of Davies, on shrinking the services it provides for the Palestinian refugees in Jordan and removed Palestine maps and Jerusalem photos from its schools in Jordan.
The MPs warned that such “unacceptable” practices by the UNRWA would lead to undesirable consequences, calling for taking strict steps to have the agency reverse its recent measure in schools and fulfill its obligations towards the employees and refugees in Jordan in order to protect the national peace.
In a letter addressed to premier Hani al-Mulki, the lawmakers accused UNRWA director Roger Davies of disrespecting the Palestinian identity and ignoring the rightful demands of the agency’s employees in Jordan, according to Quds Press.
They stated that the UNRWA worked, at the behest of Davies, on shrinking the services it provides for the Palestinian refugees in Jordan and removed Palestine maps and Jerusalem photos from its schools in Jordan.
The MPs warned that such “unacceptable” practices by the UNRWA would lead to undesirable consequences, calling for taking strict steps to have the agency reverse its recent measure in schools and fulfill its obligations towards the employees and refugees in Jordan in order to protect the national peace.