Nearly 846,000 male and female students began the new school year at schools across the West Bank amid Palestinian warnings of risks including settler attacks and Israeli army raids, as well as demolition or stop-work orders affecting 84 Palestinian schools, according to official data.
Mobile classrooms after the displacement of Ibziq families
In Khirbet Ibziq, northeast of Tubas governorate in the northern Jordan Valley, several children enrolled in a newly established school made up of mobile classrooms after their families were displaced and they could no longer continue studying at the former Challenge 10 School. The students say they still fear settler raids on the site, but remain committed to their education and refuse to leave their new school.
Student Ayham Sawafteh said the Israeli army raided the former school and surrounded the students inside before expelling them along with their families. He added that the army sometimes blocks their way and forces them to turn back, while inside the mobile classrooms they face disruption because the classrooms are too close together, as well as high temperatures in summer and rainwater leaks in winter.
School principal Anis Daraghmeh said settler attacks had displaced residents, with their children moving with them. He said the former school operated for about four months before settlers attacked it, destroyed and looted its contents, and blocked the road leading to it. This prompted the students to move to the outskirts of the area, where their families had settled.
Abdel Majid Khdeirat, head of the Ibziq village council and neighboring communities, said the former school, located in an area classified as Area C, had been attacked four times, most recently when the vehicle transporting the students was smashed. He added that after the hamlet’s residents were displaced, locals moved the school to Area B, which is administered by the Palestinian Authority, in an effort to maintain the educational process.
Risks on the road to Tuqu schools
In the town of Tuqu, Bethlehem governorate, students must cross a road used by Palestinians and settlers to reach their schools, amid a lack of traffic signs, speed bumps, safety measures and school buses.
Parent Yahya al-Amour said he drives his daughters himself, fearing the dangers of crossing the road and settler attacks. Sadiq al-Khaddour, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education, warned that the continued situation posed a direct risk to Tuqu students, saying students had been injured, killed or arrested while crossing the road.
Al-Khaddour pointed to the permanent presence of the Israeli army, its vehicles and patrols near the schools, saying this situation was not limited to the town of Tuqu.
84 schools under demolition or stop-work orders
Data from the Commission Against the Wall and Settlements, a Palestinian government body, shows that 84 Palestinian schools are subject to Israeli demolition or stop-work orders. Of these, 54 schools face the threat of complete demolition, while the orders target parts of the buildings or facilities at 30 schools.
