WEST BANK: Palestinian school housed in tents makes statement to Israeli authorities

Record ID: 561137

  • Title: WEST BANK: Palestinian school housed in tents makes statement to Israeli authorities
  • Date: 9th December 2009
  • Summary: HEBRON, WEST BANK ( DECEMBER 2, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TENTS SERVING AS CLASSROOMS IN DESERT NEAR HEBRON SIGN IN ARABIC READING "MASAFIR YATTAH MIXED ELEMENTARY SCHOOL" MORE OF TENTS TEACHER AND SCHOOLCHILDREN IN TENT ((BACK VIEW) WRITING ON BLACKBOARD READING IN ARABIC 'OLIVE HARVEST'
  • Embargoed: 24th December 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Education
  • Reuters ID: LVADAWGEZNDZT4RDENFFCG4PN5U8
  • Story Text: At the village of Masafir Yattah south of Hebron, members of the local community are attempting to cement their presence on the land on which they say they have lived for generations.
    Masafir Yattah, located in the southernmost tip of the Hebron district and borders southern Israel, is the hub for a community of hundreds that are scattered around the area. They live in tents and makeshift homes built out of tin and cloth; the area has been designated as "Area C" -- West Bank land under Israeli control -- and the Israeli authorities forbids them from building permanent buildings on the land.
    The residents who make up this community and mainly raise cattle for their livelihood, have decided that education is a priority for their children and have set up a school housed entirely in tents. They hope the school will cement their presence in the area and send a message to Israeli authorities that the surrounding land is a residential Palestinian area.
    The Masafir Yattah Primary School for Boys and Girls educates children at the elementary level.
    "As you can see the class is built from cloth, tent and metal. Our class is mixed, containing two grades: third and fourth grade. There are five students in the third grade and nine students in the fourth. So we have separated the class into two parts in order to give the students the tutoring they need," a teacher at the tent school, Hani Makhamra, told Reuters.
    The locals are aware of their school's shortcomings -- it is fitted with rudimentary furnishings and gets very cold in winter and hot in summer -- but they are proud and enthusiastic about their school and education.
    "The weather is really tough for students, they suffer from winter cold and summer heat," Makhamra explains.
    The students are aware of the differences between their school and the nearest alternative they have: a school dozens of kilometres away in the village of Yatta. To reach it, the children would have to regularly pass Israeli soldiers and Israeli settlers. The Palestinian residents say that often the soldiers harass them and the settlers attack them, making the trip dangerous to the children. Israeli settlements surround the Masafir Yattah area.
    "That other school has restrooms, computers, a playground, a cafeteria, and a building, but we just have tents," a student at the tent school said.
    The school head explains the reasoning behind setting up the tent school.
    "This area is around 36,000 dunams (1 dunam = 1,000 square metres), threatened by Israel's settlements and its occupation forces, who are trying to forcibly remove the residents using all means. The residents here are enduring this. Their livelihood depends mostly on cattle herding. Now since there are no schools here or services, the residents are forced to move to Yatta (neighbouring town) and leave their lands. So any service given to them here enhances their steadfastness, and the most important service to give them is schooling," Masafir Yattah School head teacher Khader al-Omar explained in his tent office.
    Under interim peace agreements with the Palestinians, Israel exercises civil and military control in about 60 percent of the West Bank. Known as "Area C", the zone envelops settlements built since Israel occupied the West Bank in a 1967 war.
    "We are determined to study even if it is in a cave, and if the soldiers destroy the tents we are still going to study, even if it is inside a cave or even outdoors without shelter, so we can strengthen this district, its students and residents. We along with all the parents of the students (agree) that we should study, even it is one class a day or a week. There should be a school here, so the Israelis will know that this is a school in a residential area and they should leave it be and not come near it," Khader al-Omar added.
    Israeli authorities have torn down all permanent structures built by Palestinians in the Masafir Yattah area, saying they were built without planning permission. But the Palestinian residents say Israel denies them building permits in "Area C" which Israeli politicians see as land for Israeli communities to expand in.
    The Israeli policies and lack of support and funding from the Palestinian Authority and international community have so far not deterred the locals in their declared goal of cementing their presence on their land, as Khader al-Omar explains: "We are determined to study even in a cave, and if the soldiers will destroy the tent we are going to study even inside a cave or also out doors, so we can consolidate this district, its students and residents."
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