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Increasing Tension Continues to Strip Palestinian Children of Rights

Teacher Gazing Outside While Children Converse in Tyre School Teacher Gazing Outside While Children Converse in Tyre School Olivier Fitoussi/ Haaretz

10 September 2018

The worsening effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have deprived a large number of Palestinian children of their basic rights.

The rights of Palestinian children are often marginalised to such an extent that they lack access to food, their families and education. One prominent example of this is the Itarat School, also known as the ‘Tyre’ school, which was built in 2009. In May, Israeli officials decreed the demolition of the Itarat School, one of 44 Palestinian schools under threat of full or partial demolition. This means the Bedouin community, established in 1983 in the area of Khan al- Ahma, is at risk of losing the school, and therefore access to education for its children.

The school has been named the ‘Tyre’ School because the Palestinians’ were not allowed to use building materials in its construction. Instead, with the help of an Italian NGO, Vento di Terra, they used what was available to them, namely tires, sand and mud. The school still does not have electricity, telephone, access to water, labs and a canteen. More than 200 Bedouin children attend the ‘Tyre’ School instead of traveling 22 km to a school in Jericho or 15 km to a school in Aizariva. But the school could be demolished anytime at the discretion of Israeli authorities.

Israeli officials said that proper permits were not obtained for the school’s construction, and that it is thus illegal. Unfortunately for the Palestinians the school is in Israeli territory and under Israeli civil and security control, making it impossible to obtain the necessary permits. Constant notices of demolition are put up around the community and on school walls, often illustrating the tearing down of the school. As a result, the psychological state and performance of the schoolchildren in some classes has been affected. Three leading UN officials urged for steps to be taken to, “allow children to live free of fear and to realize all their rights.”

The United Nations, the Italian Government and multiple NGOs, such as Vento di Terra, have urged Israeli officials to cancel their plans for demolition in order to protect the affected children’s right to an education.

 

To read more visit:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/khan-al-ahmar-palestinian-community-faces-threat-demolition-180531094250955.html

http://www.ventoditerra.org/en/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=92&v=ziWuTv-oK-s

 

By Amanda McCurtie
Editing Christina De Paris

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