Tag: Qurtuba school

Right to education severely impeded for Qurtuba school students

29th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) are severely restricting, for the second day in a row, the freedom of movement for Palestinian students and teachers at Qurtuba school. Whereas on Monday students and teachers were detained by Israeli forces for almost half an hour before being allowed to continue on their way home after the school day, the following day Israeli forces prevented the students from bringing essential school materials and denying them, again, to pass the checkpoint.

Palestinian students detained at staircase leading to Shuhada Street when leaving Qurtuba school on Monday

Qurtuba school is located in the H2-area of occupied al-Khalil, under full Israeli military control. In order to reach Qurtuba school, all students and teachers are forced to pass at least one, sometimes two, or even three Israeli military checkpoints within Palestinian neighborhoods. The majority of the students and teachers accesses the school through a set of stairs at Daboya checkpoint. This checkpoint marks for Palestinians the spot where Shuhada Street has been ethnically cleansed of Palestinians, an undergoing policy which continuously forbids them from this point further down the road – the part of Shuhada Street where the illegal Israeli settlements in the heart of the city are located. At Daboya checkpoint, thus, the only possible direction for Palestinians is to go up the stairs, which lead to Qurtuba school.

At the end of 2015 though, right after the whole area of Tel Rumeida including Shuhada Street has been declared a ‘closed military zone’ by the Israelis, limiting the access to registered (that is, numbered Palestinians), the access to the staircase has been closed for use by Palestinians, whereas settlers are free to use the stairs as they please. The only exception to this closure is Qurtuba school’s students and teachers twice a day: in the morning at the start of the school day, and in the afternoon once school finishes – at least, in theory. Several times students and teachers have been denied passage or detained for hours at this spot.

This setting alone creates an atmosphere not especially conducive to learning, with the constant uncertainty of what will happen: whether you will be checked, searched, detained or arrested at a checkpoint on the way to school or home, whether your teachers will get to school or settlers might attack you on the way or inside the school, in what becomes a vital part of the (psychological) occupation of the Palestinian civilians living in this area. On Monday, 28th August, the students were detained with their teachers after the end of the school day, waiting at the top of the staircase for the soldiers to finally decide to allow them to reach their homes. On Tuesday, when students wanted to bring school books, they were again detained by the soldiers at the top of the stairs, while down on Shuhada Street, infamous and aggressive settlers Anat Cohen (ענת כהן) and Ofer Yohana (עופר אוחנה) gathered to watch the show of power by the Israeli forces. Eventually, the soldiers denied children the possibility of carrying their school materials altogether, and the children went back to their classes without books.

Palestinian students detained and eventually denied to bring school materials by Israeliforces on Tuesday

These actions constitute severe infringements on the Palestinian students basic human right to education, and are deliberate attempts at the quiet transfer of the Palestinian community from the whole area. Israeli forces are creating a coercive environment in order to leave no other option for Palestinians to leave the area and thus create an already connected area of illegal settlements – free of any Palestinian presence.

Curfew, harassment and break-in for Shuhada Street as settlers celebrate Purim

14th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli settlers on 12th March 2017 harassed and threatened Palestinians and attempted to break into Shuhada Street kindergarten, as the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) was put under curfew for Palestinians so that settlers could celebrate Purim undisturbed by Palestinian presence.

As on every festive occasion celebrated at the illegal settlements in here, Palestinians had to expect even greater restrictions than usual on their freedom of movement and their human rights (almost non-existent even on ordinary days).

Around 11 am and with no notice at all, Israeli forces closed the Shuhada Street checkpoint, the main access-point for Palestinians into the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood, leaving many Palestinians stranded outside the checkpoint unable to get home. This  was essentially a curfew, as Palestinians already inside the checkpoint could not leave their homes for fear of attacks from the settlers.

Colonial settlers marching through Shuhada Street as Palestinians are under virtual curfew

Hundreds of settlers marched from the illegal Tel Rumeida settlement towards Ibrahimi Mosque on Shuhada Street, while  Israeli forces ensured that settlers did not have to see so much as a single local Palestinian resident on their way. Qurtuba school and Shuhada Street kindergarten were unable to sent their students home, as soldiers denied them passage and the street they need to walk down was completely blocked by settlers, who have a history of harassing and attacking Palestinian children here. Israeli forces also invaded a Palestinian family roof on Shuhada Street in order to watch the procession of costumed settlers.

Colonial settler child dressed up as a occupying soldier

A group of settlers, including infamous and violent Ofer Yohana (עופר אוחנה), appeared at the kindergarten door and tried to break in, while children were still playing inside.  At this commotion the kindergarten children came outside only to see settler children trying to climb the fence that is supposed to protect the kindergarten. At the same time, settler adults started banging on the kindergarten door and trying to open it, insulting and yelling at the Palestinians inside. Instead of stopping this attack, Israeli forces attempted to prevent Palestinians and internationals from filming the incident. Only after more than an hour of idly watching the settlers harass, insult and verbally abuse the Palestinians (see a video, video credit: Human Rights Defenders) and attempt to break into the kindergarten, did Israeli forces present at the scene finally ensure that the settlers moved away to allow the children get home.

Colonial settlers climbing protective fence at the kindergarten

In commemoration of the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre: #DismantleTheGhetto take the settlers out of of Hebron

14th February 2017 | The National Campaign to Lift the Closure of Hebron “Dismantle the Ghetto” | Hebron, occupied Palestine

February 25th marks the 23rd commemoration of the Ibrahim Mosque Massacre in Hebron. This year’s commemoration coincides with Israel’s unprecedented escalation in seizing Palestinian land in the West Bank for settlement expansion. This has been accompanied with ideas from Israeli ministers to construct settlements and annex most of the C areas in the West Bank. The commemoration also coincides with Israel’s increasing campaigns to Judaize the Naqab, similar to what has happened in Um Al-Hiran recently, with a general rise in the policy of demolishing Palestinian houses whether in the occupied territories or within the Green Line.

Following the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, the Israeli Occupation closed the Mosque for six months. Palestinians were punished by an imposed 40-day curfew and movement restrictions within the city. The Occupation also divided the Mosque into two parts whereby one part was converted into a synagogue. The Israeli government also increased settlement expansion within the heart of the City which further restricted the presence of Palestinians there, turning the city center into a ghost town.

The Israeli escalation continues in the heart of Hebron until the present day. The closure of Shuhada Street to Palestinian vehicles following the massacre, and then closing it for the Palestinian pedestrians and residents after the Al Aqsa Intifada was followed by the closure of Tel Rumeida neighborhood and whatever was left accessible of Shuhada Street in November 2015. They also continue to kill Palestinians on checkpoints and in restricted areas in Hebron. As of today, the number of those killed by the Israelis since October of 2015 within the closed area and surrounding it has risen to 22 people. The Israeli occupation’s practices against Palestinians amount to the level of ethnic cleansing, given the increasing checkpoints, restriction of movement, and the numbering system implemented to enter the closed areas in the Old City. This creates a Ghetto-system.

In light of the bleak reality, and given our belief that the best way to end the occupation and its discriminatory policies is by resisting it, the national parties, popular committees and civil society organizations in Hebron announce the launch of the “National Campaign to End the Closure of Hebron” through a series of different events. In commemoration of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre we call on our supporters and allies in the struggle, as well as members of our community, to participate in the campaign events, rejecting the Occupation’s practices in the City, and to demand the dismantling of checkpoints and barriers in the City, as well as the removal of settlers in Hebron.

These events will happen as part of the larger struggle to resist the Judaization policies within the Green Line and in an effort to bring greater awareness of the increasing campaigns from our friends and allies around the world that demand the dismantling of the Ghetto and removal of restrictions so that Palestinian citizens have freedom of movement inside Hebron. These events will also happen as part of the larger Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS).

Our campaign is based on principles and rights sustained in international humanitarian law and the United Nations’ resolutions that consider Israeli Settlements and collective punishment as forms of war crimes. As such, UN Security Council decision 2334 calls on the Israeli government to stop all forms of Settlement activities in Occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

Let the struggle to lift the restrictions and the removal of settlers in the Heart of Hebron continue.

The National Campaign to Lift the Closure of Hebron “dismantle the ghetto”

 

#DismantleTheGhetto: start of campaign in al-Khalil

10th February 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces and colonial settlers on Thursday, 9th February 2017, disrupted a peaceful protest near Qurtuba school on Shuhada Street in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). Settlers attacked and injured one female student, and prevented Palestinian teachers and students from leaving the area. The event was organized by the National Campaign to Lift the Closure of Hebron as part of the ‘#DismantleTheGhetto: Take the Settlers out of Hebron’ campaign.

The day started with a celebration at Qurtuba school, which is located just above Shuhada Street, where most of the houses and businesses have been ethnically cleansed of Palestinians by the Israeli forces in the aftermath of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre. Students performed a play, sang songs, and the best students from each class were honoured, along with teachers.

Afterwards, the group walked towards the Qurtuba school stairs, which used to be blocked for access for Palestinians by the Israeli forces since the area was declared a closed military zone 31st October 2015. Now, depending on the whim of the soldiers, most days teachers and students are again allowed to go up and down the stairs to school.

As the Palestinians were chanting slogans against the occupation and for freedom for Palestinians in al-Khalil and for an end to the closed military zone and the ghettoization of this part of al-Khalil, soldiers at the bottom of the stairs immediately called for reinforcements and settlers started gathering.

Settlers gathering on Shuhada Street, insulting and threatening Palestinians.

The settler Anat Cohen, who is infamous for violently attacking Palestinians and internationals with complete impunity (search YouTube ‘Anat Cohen Hebron’ for several filmed examples, ran up the slope that separated the children from the soldiers on Shuhada Street and began violently to attack the schoolchildren. She was joined by another settler with a violent and aggressive history. This had been an entirely peaceful demonstration where children demanded their own freedom of movement and an end to the occupation of Palestine, according to their human rights. There was no provocation.

Infamous settler Anat Cohen harassing studnets and teachers

At the same time, students who were trying to go down the stairs to get home were detained by Israeli forces, while colonial settlers gathered on the street and at the illegal Beit Hadassah settlement opposite, ridiculing and threatening the Palestinians as seen in this video. As children were eventually allowed down the stairs they faced aggressive settlers, some armed with assault rifles, and Israeli soldiers chasing them down the street and yelling at them.

Palestinian student support down the stairs while settlers harass them

One female student was injured and unable to walk, and had to be supported by two teachers down the Qurtuba stairs, as Anat Cohen stood by filming them. Once she was down on Shuhada Street, the girl had to be carried in a chair by teachers towards Shuhada checkpoint so that she could get an ambulance on the other side. Palestinian vehicles, including ambulances, are not allowed on this tiny strip of Shuhada Street. Palestinians are only allowed to walk, not drive, and then only if they are registered as residents (for which they are checked by number not name).

Palestinians carrying the girl on a chair to the checkpoint

Israeli military forces and Israeli police officers were present and did nothing to protect this girl or any of the Palestinians and internationals present.