As the new school year began today, one million Palestinian studentswere expected to start school throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The more thantwo-month-long imposed curfew was lifted in most Palestinian cities to allow students toattend school, but in Jenin and the Israeli controlled part of Hebron the curfew was not liftedat all and more than 30.000 students could not attend their first day back to school. Dr.Mustafa Barghouthi who visited Jenin today said that there was a strict curfew in the city. Nostudents, either from the city or the refugee camp could go to school toady. The Israeli army iseverywhere making life extremely dangerous for people as they open fire indiscriminately.
Yesterday ten Palestinians were injured .
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Photo: Children in Hebron happy to start school today after a long and dangerous summer withcurfew and invasion
The closure and checkpoints made it extremely difficult and dangerous for the children andteachers in the rest of the Palestinian territories to reach their schools.
Palestinian schoolchildren as well as teachers had to line up at Israeli militarycheckpoints to have their backpacks checked by Israeli soldiers before they were allowed tomake their way to schools.
The educational sector has been hit hard during the last two years and especially in the periodsince March this year and the students and teachers were met with difficult conditions today;7 Palestinian schools have been closed by the Israeli army, 197 school have been damaged byshelling and Israeli troops invading the buildings, 3 schools in Hebron are turned intomilitary posts and 25 schools have been used as detention centers during the invasions.
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Photo: First school day in Ramallah: Is it safe?
Palestinian school children must have one of the most dangerous routes to school in the world;in Palestine it is not traffic and cars that parents worry about when they send their childrento school, but whether they will make it across the checkpoints without being shot or teargassed by Israeli soldiers. Since September 2000, 239 Palestinian students and schoolchildren have been killed, 166 students and 75 teachers arrested.
Unless the curfew and roadblocks are lifted to allow students to move freely this will be yetanother very difficult school year in Palestine.
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Photo: Teachers from Nablus waiting to cross Israeli militray checkpoint at Huwara ontheir way to teach in village schools. One of the teachers fanited after waiting overtwo hoursin the sun.
For more information The Palestine Monitor +972 2 2985372, +972 (0)59 387087 and see www.palestinemonitor.org
The Palestine Monitor Appeal
Arrest of Christian Cleric
August 30, 2002
On 22 nd of August 2002, Israeli police arrested Dr. Theodosios Attalah Hanna, the spokesmanof the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem. He was detained at his home and then transferred tothe Russian Compound detention centre.
Dr. Hanna was charged with (1) ‘suspicion of relations with terrorist organisations’; (2)’illegally entering an enemy country’, (i.e. Syria and Lebanon); and (3) ‘incitement’.
His arrest and detention is another attack by the Israeli government on the religious andsocial lives of Palestinians. It would appear that the arrest and detention of Father Hanna isa punishment as he is a familiar and outspoken critic of the continuing illegal Israelioccupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
It also appears to be a move to intimidate and pressure him to refrain from any furtherpolitical activity. He said, ‘Israel claims that the Church should not interfere inpolitics, but this is a false claim, because the Palestinian cause has both a moral, politicaland religious dimension, and the Christians in the Holy Land are part of the Palestinianpeople and are subject to the same oppression as their Muslim brothers and sisters, who bothare prevented from praying in Jerusalem’. Moreover, it is an established fact that IsraeliRabbi’s intervene heavily in politics in all possible forms, which is even encouraged byIsrael’s state ideology.
For more information call:
Archimandrite Theodosios (Atallah) Hanna: 050-668778;
Adi Bajale: 056-379312;
Attorney Ilias Khoury: 02-6283502 (office);
Marwan Toubasi: 059-803097
Or The Palestine Monitor +972 2 2985372, +972 (0)59 387087