1 nov 2018
Israeli settlers from the illegal Sha’are Tikva settlement, on Thursday, dumped their sewage onto school property in the northern West Bank village of Azzun Atma, southeast of Qalqilia, said Alaa Marabeh, principal of Azzun Beit Amin Secondary School.
He said, according to WAFA, that the sewage flooded the school courtyard and playground, resulting in a repulsive smell inside the school, stressing that this is the second time in two months settlers dump their sewage on the village school.
He said it usually takes over 10 days for sewage water to dry, causing health hazards for students and the community at large.
Jewish-Israeli settler harassment of Palestinian villages is a regular occurrence and faces hardly any rebuke from Israeli authorities.
He said, according to WAFA, that the sewage flooded the school courtyard and playground, resulting in a repulsive smell inside the school, stressing that this is the second time in two months settlers dump their sewage on the village school.
He said it usually takes over 10 days for sewage water to dry, causing health hazards for students and the community at large.
Jewish-Israeli settler harassment of Palestinian villages is a regular occurrence and faces hardly any rebuke from Israeli authorities.
25 oct 2018
Israeli soldiers fired, Thursday, several gas bombs into the Nahda Basic School for Boys, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, causing dozens of students and teacher to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation, including some students who fainted.
Rawhi az-Zaro, the principal of the school, said the soldiers surrounded the school and fired dozens of gas bombs directly into its campus.
He added that dozens of children and teachers suffered the severe effects of teargas inhalation, including some who fainted, and required urgent treatment.
Az-Zaro stated that the soldiers also fired gas bombs and workers of the Hebron City Council, near the school, causing them to suffer the severe effects of teargas inhalation. video video video
The principal said the school administration contacted the Palestinian Education Ministry about the attack, and the Palestinian District Coordination Office to demand the military vehicles to avoid driving near the schools during the times when students are arriving or leaving it.
Rawhi az-Zaro, the principal of the school, said the soldiers surrounded the school and fired dozens of gas bombs directly into its campus.
He added that dozens of children and teachers suffered the severe effects of teargas inhalation, including some who fainted, and required urgent treatment.
Az-Zaro stated that the soldiers also fired gas bombs and workers of the Hebron City Council, near the school, causing them to suffer the severe effects of teargas inhalation. video video video
The principal said the school administration contacted the Palestinian Education Ministry about the attack, and the Palestinian District Coordination Office to demand the military vehicles to avoid driving near the schools during the times when students are arriving or leaving it.
24 oct 2018
Several Palestinian students, along with teachers and officials, were wounded in the Israeli army attack on a school south of Nablus in the West Bank on 15 October. The students of Al- Sawiya Al-Lebban Mixed School were challenging an Israeli military order to shut down their school based on the ever-versatile accusation of the school being a “site of popular terror and rioting”.
“Popular terror” is an Israeli army code for protests. The students, of course, have every right to protest, not just the Israeli military occupation but also the encroaching colonization of the settlements of Alie and Ma’ale Levona. These two illegal Jewish settlements have unlawfully confiscated thousands of dunams of land belonging to the villages of As-Sawiya and Al-Lebban.
“The Israeli citizens” that the occupation army is set to protect by shutting down the school, are, in fact, the very armed Jewish settlers who have been terrorizing this West Bank region for years.
According to a 2016 study commissioned by the United Nations, at least 2,500 Palestinian students from 35 West Bank communities must cross through Israeli military checkpoints to reach their schools every day. About half of these students have reported army harassment and violence for merely attempting to get to their classes or back home.
However, this is only half of the story, as violent Jewish settlers are always on the lookout for Palestinian kids. These settlers, who “also set up their own checkpoints”, engage in regular violence as well, by “throwing stones” at children, or “physically pushing (Palestinian children) around.”
“UNICEF’s protective presence teams have reported that their volunteers have been subjected to physical attacks, harassment, arrest and detention, and death threats,” according to the same UN report.
In other words, even the “protectors” themselves often fall victim to the army and Jewish settler terror tactics.
Add to this that Area C – a major part of the West Bank that is under full Israeli military control – represents the pinnacle of Palestinian suffering. An estimated 50,000 children face numerous hurdles, including the lack of facilities, access, violence, closure and unjustified demolition orders.
The school of Al-Sawiya Al-Lebban located in Area C is, therefore, under the total mercy of the Israeli military, which has no tolerance for any form of resistance, including non-violent popular protests by school children.
What is truly uplifting, however, is that, despite the Israeli military occupation and ongoing restrictions on Palestinian freedom, the Palestinian population remains one of the most educated in the Middle East.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the literacy rate in Palestine (estimated at 96.3 per cent) is one of the highest in the Middle East and the illiteracy rate (3.7 per cent among individuals over the age of 15) is one of the lowest in the world.
If these statistics are not heartening enough, bearing in mind the ongoing Israeli war on Palestinian school and curricula, consider this: the besieged and war-stricken Gaza Strip has an even higher literacy rate than the West Bank, as they both stand at 96.6 per cent and 96 per cent respectively.
In truth, this should not come as a total surprise. The first wave of Palestinian refugees that were ethnically-cleansed from historic Palestine was so keen on ensuring their children strive to continue their education, they established school tents, operated by volunteer teachers as early as 1948.
Palestinians understand well that education is their greatest weapon to obtain their long-denied freedom. Israel, too, is aware of this dichotomy, knowing that an empowered Palestinian population is far more capable of challenging Israeli dominance than a subdued one, thus the relentless and systematic targeting of the Palestinian educational system.
Israel’s strategy in destroying the infrastructure of Palestinian schooling system is centered on the allegation of “terror”: that is, Palestinians teach “terror” in their schools; Palestinian school books celebrate “terrorists”; schools are sites for “popular terror” and various other accusations that, per Israeli logic, compels the army to seal off schools, demolish facilities, arrest and shoot students.
Take for example the recent comments made by the Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, who is now leading a government campaign aimed at shutting down operations by the UN organisation that caters for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
“It is time to remove UNRWA from Jerusalem,” Barkat announced early October. Without any evidence whatsoever, Barkat claimed that “UNRWA is strengthening terror,” and that “the children of Jerusalem are taught under their auspices, terror, and this must be stopped.”
Of course, Barkat is being dishonest. The jibe at UNRWA in Jerusalem is part of a larger Israeli-US campaign aimed at shutting down an organisation that proved central to the status and welfare of Palestinian refugees.
According to this skewed thinking, without UNRWA, Palestinian refugees would have no legal platform, thus closing down UNRWA is closing down the chapter of Palestinian refugees and their Right of Return altogether.
The link between the shutting down of Al-Sawiya Al-Lebban, the targeting of UNRWA by Israel and the US, the numerous checkpoints separating students from their schools in the West Bank and more, have more in common than Israel’s false allegation of “terror”.
Israeli writer, Orly Noy, summed up the Israeli logic in one sentence.
By destroying schools in Palestinian villages in Area C and elsewhere, Israel is forcing Palestinians to make a cruel choice — between their land and their children’s futures.
she wrote earlier this year.
It is this brutal logic that has guided the Israeli government strategy regarding Palestinian education for 70 years. It is a war that cannot be discussed or understood outside the larger war on Palestinian identity, freedom, and, in fact, the very existence of the Palestinian people.
The students’ fight for their right to education in Al-Sawiya Al-Lebban Mixed School is by no means an isolated skirmish involving Palestinian school kids and trigger-happy Israeli soldiers. Rather, it is at the heart of the Palestinian people’s fight for their freedom.
- Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle.
“Popular terror” is an Israeli army code for protests. The students, of course, have every right to protest, not just the Israeli military occupation but also the encroaching colonization of the settlements of Alie and Ma’ale Levona. These two illegal Jewish settlements have unlawfully confiscated thousands of dunams of land belonging to the villages of As-Sawiya and Al-Lebban.
“The Israeli citizens” that the occupation army is set to protect by shutting down the school, are, in fact, the very armed Jewish settlers who have been terrorizing this West Bank region for years.
According to a 2016 study commissioned by the United Nations, at least 2,500 Palestinian students from 35 West Bank communities must cross through Israeli military checkpoints to reach their schools every day. About half of these students have reported army harassment and violence for merely attempting to get to their classes or back home.
However, this is only half of the story, as violent Jewish settlers are always on the lookout for Palestinian kids. These settlers, who “also set up their own checkpoints”, engage in regular violence as well, by “throwing stones” at children, or “physically pushing (Palestinian children) around.”
“UNICEF’s protective presence teams have reported that their volunteers have been subjected to physical attacks, harassment, arrest and detention, and death threats,” according to the same UN report.
In other words, even the “protectors” themselves often fall victim to the army and Jewish settler terror tactics.
Add to this that Area C – a major part of the West Bank that is under full Israeli military control – represents the pinnacle of Palestinian suffering. An estimated 50,000 children face numerous hurdles, including the lack of facilities, access, violence, closure and unjustified demolition orders.
The school of Al-Sawiya Al-Lebban located in Area C is, therefore, under the total mercy of the Israeli military, which has no tolerance for any form of resistance, including non-violent popular protests by school children.
What is truly uplifting, however, is that, despite the Israeli military occupation and ongoing restrictions on Palestinian freedom, the Palestinian population remains one of the most educated in the Middle East.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the literacy rate in Palestine (estimated at 96.3 per cent) is one of the highest in the Middle East and the illiteracy rate (3.7 per cent among individuals over the age of 15) is one of the lowest in the world.
If these statistics are not heartening enough, bearing in mind the ongoing Israeli war on Palestinian school and curricula, consider this: the besieged and war-stricken Gaza Strip has an even higher literacy rate than the West Bank, as they both stand at 96.6 per cent and 96 per cent respectively.
In truth, this should not come as a total surprise. The first wave of Palestinian refugees that were ethnically-cleansed from historic Palestine was so keen on ensuring their children strive to continue their education, they established school tents, operated by volunteer teachers as early as 1948.
Palestinians understand well that education is their greatest weapon to obtain their long-denied freedom. Israel, too, is aware of this dichotomy, knowing that an empowered Palestinian population is far more capable of challenging Israeli dominance than a subdued one, thus the relentless and systematic targeting of the Palestinian educational system.
Israel’s strategy in destroying the infrastructure of Palestinian schooling system is centered on the allegation of “terror”: that is, Palestinians teach “terror” in their schools; Palestinian school books celebrate “terrorists”; schools are sites for “popular terror” and various other accusations that, per Israeli logic, compels the army to seal off schools, demolish facilities, arrest and shoot students.
Take for example the recent comments made by the Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, who is now leading a government campaign aimed at shutting down operations by the UN organisation that caters for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
“It is time to remove UNRWA from Jerusalem,” Barkat announced early October. Without any evidence whatsoever, Barkat claimed that “UNRWA is strengthening terror,” and that “the children of Jerusalem are taught under their auspices, terror, and this must be stopped.”
Of course, Barkat is being dishonest. The jibe at UNRWA in Jerusalem is part of a larger Israeli-US campaign aimed at shutting down an organisation that proved central to the status and welfare of Palestinian refugees.
According to this skewed thinking, without UNRWA, Palestinian refugees would have no legal platform, thus closing down UNRWA is closing down the chapter of Palestinian refugees and their Right of Return altogether.
The link between the shutting down of Al-Sawiya Al-Lebban, the targeting of UNRWA by Israel and the US, the numerous checkpoints separating students from their schools in the West Bank and more, have more in common than Israel’s false allegation of “terror”.
Israeli writer, Orly Noy, summed up the Israeli logic in one sentence.
By destroying schools in Palestinian villages in Area C and elsewhere, Israel is forcing Palestinians to make a cruel choice — between their land and their children’s futures.
she wrote earlier this year.
It is this brutal logic that has guided the Israeli government strategy regarding Palestinian education for 70 years. It is a war that cannot be discussed or understood outside the larger war on Palestinian identity, freedom, and, in fact, the very existence of the Palestinian people.
The students’ fight for their right to education in Al-Sawiya Al-Lebban Mixed School is by no means an isolated skirmish involving Palestinian school kids and trigger-happy Israeli soldiers. Rather, it is at the heart of the Palestinian people’s fight for their freedom.
- Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle.
23 oct 2018
The Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday dismantled and seized educational caravans belonging to a Palestinian school in Khirbet Ibzeeq, in the northern Jordan Valley.
The head of Ibzeeq’s local council, Abdul Majid Khdeirat, said that Israeli forces raided the local school, dismantled two caravans, and subjected the teaching staff to intensive questioning.
Khdeirat said the school was built at an archeological site dating back to 200 years ago and built by the Palestinian local Majali.
Tubas Education Directorate said the Israeli soldiers detained teaching staff members and students all the way through the assault.
The head of Ibzeeq’s local council, Abdul Majid Khdeirat, said that Israeli forces raided the local school, dismantled two caravans, and subjected the teaching staff to intensive questioning.
Khdeirat said the school was built at an archeological site dating back to 200 years ago and built by the Palestinian local Majali.
Tubas Education Directorate said the Israeli soldiers detained teaching staff members and students all the way through the assault.
21 oct 2018
Hundreds of soldiers invaded, Saturday, Shweika area in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, and surrounded a local school just hours after dozens of soldiers invaded and searched it.
Media sources in Tulkarem, said the soldiers surrounded the under-construction school, once again, and closed the entire area, while dozens of soldiers have been deployed to prevent the Palestinians from entering or leaving it.
They added that the army also invaded many areas in Tulkarem, and used loud speakers demanding Ashraf Na’alwa, to surrender and turn himself in to the army.
The soldiers also brought two armored military bulldozers to the school area, and continued to surround and isolate Shweika, in Tulkarem.
The army has been trying to arrest Ashraf Na’alwa, since he carried out the fatal shooting in Barkan illegal colony, in the West Bank, leading to the death of Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, from Rosh HaAyin, and Ziv Hagbi, 35, from Rishon LeZion.
The soldiers have been carrying out ongoing violent invasions and searches of his home, and homes of his relatives, and abducted many members of his family, including his father, mother, sisters and brothers, and issued a demolition order targeting his parent’s home.
Media sources in Tulkarem, said the soldiers surrounded the under-construction school, once again, and closed the entire area, while dozens of soldiers have been deployed to prevent the Palestinians from entering or leaving it.
They added that the army also invaded many areas in Tulkarem, and used loud speakers demanding Ashraf Na’alwa, to surrender and turn himself in to the army.
The soldiers also brought two armored military bulldozers to the school area, and continued to surround and isolate Shweika, in Tulkarem.
The army has been trying to arrest Ashraf Na’alwa, since he carried out the fatal shooting in Barkan illegal colony, in the West Bank, leading to the death of Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, from Rosh HaAyin, and Ziv Hagbi, 35, from Rishon LeZion.
The soldiers have been carrying out ongoing violent invasions and searches of his home, and homes of his relatives, and abducted many members of his family, including his father, mother, sisters and brothers, and issued a demolition order targeting his parent’s home.
Israeli soldiers abducted, on Sunday at dawn, at least five Palestinians, during extensive searches of homes and property in the occupied West Bank.
The Tulkarem office of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS), in northern West Bank, said the soldiers invaded and searched many homes in Deir al-Ghosoun town, north of the city, and abducted Mohammad Adnan Tabbal.
It added that the soldiers also searched many homes, lands and hills, along the roads linking Shweika area in Tulkarem city, with several surrounding communities.
In addition, the soldiers abducted a child, identified as Nidal Safwan Salim, 15, from his home in ‘Azzoun town, east of Qalqilia, and Nasser Thieb Odah, 53, from Kafr Thulth town.
In related news, the soldiers installed a barbed-wire fence on a road used by local children heading to their schools in Teqoua’ town, east of Bethlehem.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli army said its soldiers have arrested five Palestinians in several parts of the West Bank.
It claimed that the soldiers located and confiscated two Carlo rifles, during searches in Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, adding that two pipe bombs were hurled at army jeeps in Beit Forik town, east of Nablus, in northern West Bank.
The Tulkarem office of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS), in northern West Bank, said the soldiers invaded and searched many homes in Deir al-Ghosoun town, north of the city, and abducted Mohammad Adnan Tabbal.
It added that the soldiers also searched many homes, lands and hills, along the roads linking Shweika area in Tulkarem city, with several surrounding communities.
In addition, the soldiers abducted a child, identified as Nidal Safwan Salim, 15, from his home in ‘Azzoun town, east of Qalqilia, and Nasser Thieb Odah, 53, from Kafr Thulth town.
In related news, the soldiers installed a barbed-wire fence on a road used by local children heading to their schools in Teqoua’ town, east of Bethlehem.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli army said its soldiers have arrested five Palestinians in several parts of the West Bank.
It claimed that the soldiers located and confiscated two Carlo rifles, during searches in Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, adding that two pipe bombs were hurled at army jeeps in Beit Forik town, east of Nablus, in northern West Bank.
18 oct 2018
A Palestinian youth sustained injuries on Thursday as Israeli settlers and soldiers broke into Urif town, south of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank.
Speaking with PIC, head of Urif village council Mazen Shahada said over 70 extremist Israelis residing in Yitzhar illegal settlement and escorted by policemen stormed Palestinian lands in al-Marah, south of Urif, and attacked Palestinian homes and the local high school, leading to clashes.
Israeli soldiers attacked the locals with spates of bullet fire and teargas canisters.
A young man was shot and injured in the thigh. He was taken to a hospital in Nablus.
Speaking with PIC, head of Urif village council Mazen Shahada said over 70 extremist Israelis residing in Yitzhar illegal settlement and escorted by policemen stormed Palestinian lands in al-Marah, south of Urif, and attacked Palestinian homes and the local high school, leading to clashes.
Israeli soldiers attacked the locals with spates of bullet fire and teargas canisters.
A young man was shot and injured in the thigh. He was taken to a hospital in Nablus.
15 oct 2018
A number of Palestinians, including officials who defied an Israeli army order to close al-Sawiyeh/al-Lubban School in the northern occupied West Bank province of Nablus, were injured on Monday when Israeli soldiers attacked protesters.
Local sources said the head of al-Lubban al-Sharqiyeh village council, Samer Owais, was injured after Israeli soldiers hit the locals with bullet fire and teargas. Many others choked on teargas.
Photojournalist Jaafar Eshtiyeh, working for France Press, was also hit with a teargas canister and injured in his head. video
Dozens of schoolchildren were prevented from joining their classes.
Israeli soldiers closed off the roads leading to the school to prevent the students from reaching it and fired teargas canisters at the students, their parents as well as the teaching staff, causing several injuries and suffocation cases. They also closed the school gates locking the students and people inside.
The Israeli occupation authorities decided on Sunday to shut down the school until further notice under the pretext that students threw stones at Israeli soldiers. video
Local sources said the head of al-Lubban al-Sharqiyeh village council, Samer Owais, was injured after Israeli soldiers hit the locals with bullet fire and teargas. Many others choked on teargas.
Photojournalist Jaafar Eshtiyeh, working for France Press, was also hit with a teargas canister and injured in his head. video
Dozens of schoolchildren were prevented from joining their classes.
Israeli soldiers closed off the roads leading to the school to prevent the students from reaching it and fired teargas canisters at the students, their parents as well as the teaching staff, causing several injuries and suffocation cases. They also closed the school gates locking the students and people inside.
The Israeli occupation authorities decided on Sunday to shut down the school until further notice under the pretext that students threw stones at Israeli soldiers. video
14 oct 2018
The Israeli occupation authorities on Sunday decided to close al-Lubban al-Sawiya High School located south of Nablus city in the northern West Bank.
Local sources said that the Israeli authorities informed the Palestinian Liaison that the decision would take effect starting Monday, 15 October.
The same sources said that the Israeli authorities claimed the decision came as a punishment for the Palestinian students' stone-throwing attacks on Israeli settler vehicles.
The targeted school is the only school built for al-Lubban and al-Sawiya villages in Nablus and it is attended by over 500 students.
Local sources said that the Israeli authorities informed the Palestinian Liaison that the decision would take effect starting Monday, 15 October.
The same sources said that the Israeli authorities claimed the decision came as a punishment for the Palestinian students' stone-throwing attacks on Israeli settler vehicles.
The targeted school is the only school built for al-Lubban and al-Sawiya villages in Nablus and it is attended by over 500 students.
