Israeli colony seizes school grounds
AlJazeera.Net, AFP, 6 October 2005

 

A Day in Birzeit
Mazin Qumsiyeh, Notes from Occupied Palestine, 26 February 2005

 

SOCIAL EFFECTS OF THE OCCUPATION 

RIGHT TO EDUCATION

 

As Prof. Rami Hamdallah, the principal of An-Najah University said, the only major investment the Palestinians have are people. According to him the Palestinian economies most significant exports are graduates who leave Palestine and send money back to the families living within the OPT. This seems to be understandable considering An Najah university is funded from former students paying their loans back after graduation, and considering how the economy has been suffocated by the occupation it is inevitable that the graduates will go abroad. Palestinians attach significant importance to higher education and throughout the occupation they have proven resilient despite Israel’s attacks upon the right of Palestinians to education, and the struggle against Israel has involved a struggle for higher education. The occupation has also had a detrimental effect upon the education of Palestinian children.

 

The effects of the occupation upon education is two-fold, firstly in higher education where it has witnessed direct attacks from Israel, whilst secondly, the education of children has been damaged greatly but that is not to say that children at school have not witnessed brutal attacks directly as well.

 

‘The right of Palestinian children to education was directly threatened by the closures and restrictions of movement, hindering access to schools for both students and school staff and affecting the quality of the education provided.’ Primary school enrolment rates are 93.9%, but this is far lower in areas such as Jenin refugee camp where resources are limited, but ultimately education is mostly made possible by the UN and international support. Enrollment rates went down 1.5% for the second year in a row, meaning that 15,000 less children entered into the school system compared to previous years. The quality of education services was also put under strain as professional teaching staff were unable to reach their schools.^[1] One English teacher had his travel time quadrupled due to movement restrictions. During 2004, more than 226,000 children from 580 schools found going to school impossible, irregular or very risky.

 

Children living in Hebron had such problems when going to school. In Hebron the illegal settlers live within the city and in areas which consequently cut Palestinian children from their schools. A Christian peace group (CPT) was escorting the children through the settlers’ areas to their schools as their parents were unable due to the curfews. The CPT, who are mostly elderly, told us how the illegal settlers attacked them with baseball bats when they were escorting the children, seriously injuring some members of the group. This is just one example of the restrictions facing children, and the violence associated with the occupation and the illegal settlers.

 

During 2004 children showed important signs of distress, including bedwetting, nightmares, aggressive behavior among children and low schooling achievements. The occupation has an obvious part to play in this. In a Bethlehem refugee camp we heard how six months ago Israeli troops stormed a girl’s school during an exam and fired tear gas. This has had grave psychosocial effects upon children and has hindered their educational achievement. Where the occupation is more intense the figures have been even graver, in Gaza low school achievement was 42% in comparison to the West Bank which was 26%. This disparity is the same for psychosocial disorders, for example bed wetting was observed at 37% compared to 18% in the West Bank^[2].

 

UNRWA reported that grades in Arabic, mathematics and science examinations in its schools fell significantly since 2000. The quality of Palestinian education has fallen as a consequence of closure and fragmentation, UNICEF reported the school day had shortened in areas near the Barrier.^[3] In Tayba the barrier has been built into the West Bank territory, departing from the green line, and it has cut the school off from its own playground. The school has been told to not fly the Palestinian flag and not sing the national anthem in the mornings as it might offend those traveling on the Israeli roads. They have been told to board up their windows facing the barrier and are not allowed to use their water as its source now lies on the other side of the barrier where an Arab-Israeli village is. The barrier has major effects on schools, and where it doesn’t hinder movement Israel imposes pedantic demands upon them for no reason such as the one above. During the night the soldiers come to the barrier road at the side of the school and play disturbing noises in loud speakers to disturb the villagers. 

 

Israel has continuously attacked education, specifically higher education. Berzeit University stands as an example of Israeli attempts to ban higher education and the resistance from the students. Berzeit University has been closed fifteen times in its history; from 1988 to 1992 all universities were closed. Despite ‘education being made illegal’ during this period, education went ‘underground’. This increased the time it took for students to get a degree but it still allowed students to be educated in non-practical subjects, sometimes in people’s houses.

 

Since September 2000 there has been a new wave of attacks upon education. Eight institutions have been raided and the education office was ransacked. On 16^th March the teacher training centre was demolished. In 2003, the Israeli army wielded the doors shut at Hebron University, but the students broke it down. A Right to Education campaign was launched by Berzeit University in 2002 in response to the road block between Ramallah and the university campus. We were told how there have been random roadblocks, stopping traffic for long periods of time as a deliberate form of provocation.

According to an English student studying at Berzeit University, students are now making decisions on education based on army checkpoints and the barrier. Al Quds university is surrounded by an eight foot wall which cuts off 36% of its students. Due to the restrictions upon movement some students have had to move nearer to Berzeit University to live instead of travelling as they used to do, thus increasing the financial burden upon their families. The number of new students from other places has declined drastically, with only 35 students from Gaza and none from Jenin.

 

Gaza students face the biggest restrictions in regards to education. In one instance, in order to get to Berzeit university some students were traveling from Gaza to Cairo, then Imman to Jerusalem and finally to Ramallah as a result of some Gaza students being banned to going to West Bank universities. This has placed Gaza graduates in self imposed exile in order to avoid deportation. Four students were arrested during the night and deported back to Gaza. According to the Right to Education campaign there are 80 Berzeit students in prison, 10 without charges or trials and they have not been told what they have been imprisoned for. They have been in prison for two years. Also, two presidents of the student council of Berzeit University were charged for being president of the student council.

 

Administrative arrests are a commonly applied tactic by Israel. In one of the many case studies Hasan Salah, a 21 year old Engineering student from An Najah University said; “I was shocked to see so many soldiers in the entrance of our home…I was blindfolded and handcuffed…One of the soldiers put his hand on my heart; he laughed and asked if I was afraid. I was shaking all over but said ‘no‘. They took me from the jeep to a military van where there were many other young guys from my village who had been arrested…The soldier showed me some papers that claimed that many people said I had weapons and a Molotov cocktail. He asked me (if) I had ever thrown stones…I have never had a weapon and therefore could not confess to what he wanted…I was asked again how many times I threw stones...He told me that if I did not confess to something that I would never be released. Finally I agreed to accept one of the counts they were charging against me…That was Israeli democracy…After ten trips to the court I ended up spending months in jail. I wasn‘t able to study and I lost all of the work that I had put into my education after that.”^[4]   

 

The Israeli occupation has damaged and targeted the right of Palestinians to education. One of the most amazing stories was of students being charged for possessing certain books. As a result of the economic constraints placed upon Palestinians, education has became even more of a necessity than it would normally be, and it is because of this importance there was ‘Underground Education’ during the illegal years. However, while the occupation and its consequential barriers are in place, the standard of education looks likely to deteriorate and the socioeconomic and psychosocial effects this will have are almost incalculable.                             

 

 

 

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^[1] Consolidated Report, UNICEF - occupied Palestinian terriitory

^[2] Consolidated Report, UNICEF - occupied Palestinian terriitory

^[3] Review of the Humanitarian Situation in the occupied Palestinian territory for 2004, OCHA

^[4] Report on: Detention and Imprisonment of An-Najah students