Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - The Arab Campaign for Education, with its national coalitions and regional member networks, confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces demolished and suspended twelve schools in the West Bank during the past year, including 6 demolished and 6 others suspended.

In a press release, the campaign stressed the importance of the specialized and relevant United Nations agencies assuming their role and responsibilities in pressuring the occupation government to stop the school demolition policy, which has become an increasing phenomenon during the year 2022.

The campaign said: "The Israeli authorities have issued 6 demolition or stop-construction orders targeting 6 Palestinian schools during the past year."

And she continued, "The demolition of the (Isfi) school in Masafer Badia Yatta was a blow to all international efforts, and a violation of all norms and covenants, and the existence of demolition notices against 58 schools in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, serving more than 6,550 male and female students, more than 700 of them." The educational staff, the most recent of which was the schools of Ain Samia and Khashm al-Karm, both of which are in Bedouin areas that require practical steps to assign the two schools.

The campaign stressed the need to reaffirm to the Israeli occupation authorities that the mass destruction of property, including schools and educational facilities, in the absence of military necessity, is classified as grave violations under Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The campaign called for the necessity of organizing and maximizing interventions aimed at highlighting the issue of schools that have been demolished and those threatened with demolition, while stressing the importance of the International Committee of the Red Cross and UNICEF shouldering their responsibilities in protecting the right of Palestinian children to education in safe schools. And denunciation, and moving to put pressure on the Israeli occupation to stop its continuous violations against education.

The campaign emphasized the need to support the efforts of the Palestinian Ministry of Education and its endeavors in the protection and advocacy plan, and the need for the Global Campaign for Education, national coalitions, and regional and international educational networks to shed light on the suffering of Palestinian education.

The Arab Campaign for Education indicated that it realizes that the issue of the suffering of Palestinian education deserves to be the focus of discussion at the level of the highest international forums, and the campaign called for holding an international conference on this to highlight the repercussions of demolishing schools on the largest possible scale, which is feared to multiply in light of the extremist Israeli government that produced it. the recent Israeli elections; Otherwise, achieving the fourth development goal, in light of the violations of the occupation, will seem like a fantasy, especially if the level of international interventions does not rise to the minimum politically, institutionally and in the media. In the field.

The Arab Campaign for Education called for adopting the organization of an international day to talk about the demolition of schools, and to stand against it and stop it as an unacceptable racist measure, and a clear and flagrant violation of all covenants and international law.

The Arab Campaign for Education saluted the Palestinian Ministry of Education, and the staff working in schools that operate under the threat of demolition, and those that have been demolished, and their children are learning in tents in which the cold winds of winter blow, and they cling to their right to education while they make the sky a roof for their ambition after the occupation has increased. They have classrooms that are covered with zinc and tin.

The campaign expressed its deep concern about the Israeli occupation's violations of the Palestinian children's right to education, which is an inalienable right. These violations affected children, teachers and school buildings.

The campaign recalled the painful departure of the Palestinian child, Rayan Suleiman, as a result of his pursuit by the Israeli occupation forces while returning from school.

She also recalled the policy of demolishing schools, especially in the communities of Masafer Yatta, where the difficulty of accessing schools in these communities increases the risk of children dropping out of school, and this is a special concern for girls because families no longer want to send their daughters to school for fear of their safety.

The campaign said: "These violations require an international stance that rises to the level of the challenge ahead, and requires member states, United Nations agencies, UNESCO, UNICEF, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and international human rights institutions such as the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene immediately and urgently to protect education and its institutions in Palestine."

And she continued, "The right to education cannot wait, and the threat posed by the Israeli occupation and its settlers against it is unbearable, and the moral responsibility requires everyone to stop indifference towards targeting my goal, which is present every day for education in Palestine."