Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

2-minute read
27 May 2023 | 13:52 CAT

Image: Middle East Monitor

Over 6,550 Palestinian students face life without an education unless Israel cancels demolition orders for 57 schools in the occupied West Bank.

Most of the 57 schools have been built in Area C, an Occupied Westbank area under complete Israeli control.

Communication Adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Palestine, Shaina Low, told Radio Islam International that many of the schools had been built without building permits as it is virtually impossible to obtain them under Israeli discriminatively and unlawful planning regimes.

“Palestinians want to educate their children and build schools without the permit, and those ofcourse at risk of demolition,” she says.

However, many schools are protected for now, thanks to legal interventions from the Norwegian Refugee Council and other legal assistance organisations.

Two schools in the Bedouin communities of Ein Samiya, north-east Ramallah, and Khashm al-Karm, south-east Hebron, are at risk of imminent demolition by Israeli authorities because they have no building permit. In Ein Samiya, continuous settler attacks and the school’s anticipated demolition forced the community of 172 people, including 78 children, to flee their homes on Tuesday.

The West Bank Protection Consortium, led by NRC, provides material and legal assistance to the Ein Samiya and Khashm al-Karm communities, including building the two schools. Before their construction, children had to travel several kilometres in mountainous terrain near settlements to attend classes.

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie.