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Photo: School jeep at Al Fakheit School (CPT)


HEBRON (Ma’an) – Israeli troops on Sunday morning stopped the teaching staff of a Palestinian school in Jinba south of Hebron in the southern West Bank.

Hani Makhamra, a staff member, told Ma’an that an Israeli patrol obstructed the teaching staff near an illegal Israeli outpost Mitzpe Yair on their way to school.

They denied them passage because the area has been declared a closed military zone, Makhamra said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

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from Christian Peacemakers Team (CPT), Hebron

On Sunday 12th May we arrived at Al Fakheit School where we were met by journalists who were filming a documentary about the difficulty that children face in getting to school in the different areas of Occupied Palestine. They told us about one school near East Jerusalem where children have to pass through a sewage pipe in order to reach their school.

Just as the driver and we were explaining the difficulties faced by the children getting to school in the South Hebron Hills and the dangers of living in a live fire zone the headmaster approached us looking crestfallen. I asked him what had happened. He told us that soldiers had stopped three teachers as they were driving to Jinba School. The soldiers had told the teachers that the police would come and arrest them as they were not allowed to be in a closed military area. The teachers were then taken inside an illegal Israeli settlement that lies near to the road on which they were driving. The teachers were held for around two hours before being released. Two of the teachers were allowed to continue on to the school but one was made to return home. The police had arrested him at a non-violent protest against the firing zone previously and stated that now he was not permitted to return to the area.

Children in Al Fakheit and Jinba face daily disruptions from the Israeli army whose helicopters often hover over the schools. While we were playing football with the children in Jinba the children suddenly started shouting “jesh, jesh” (army, army) and we looked across to see a large military vehicle whizz through the village, passing very close to the schools and houses. Within five minutes it was back again just speeding through the village kicking up stones and dust. Children have got used to the army and military presence near their homes but still there is fear as people do not know what will happen when the military passes through.