Dear Friend, “If the demolition goes through, children will be forced to walk long distances to reach the nearest schools located in the villages of Ein al-Beida, Tayasir, and Bardala, at least 15 kilometres away in an area with limited public transportation and overall poor infrastructure.” — Al-Jazeera1 Can you imagine your neighborhood school getting demolished? The grammar school you go to as a first-grader, or send your child to, destroyed just for sitting on land that someone else wants? This is the reality for the Wadi al-Maleh elementary school in the occupied West Bank. But you and I can stand up beside Palestinian movements and raise our voices to stop school demolitions by the Israeli military. Today marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. For decades, Palestinians have faced land thefts, segregation and a brutal military occupation. Around the world, people are marching and speaking out for justice. And today, our partner Stop the Wall is asking us to join them in solidarity to defend Palestinian education. |
|
The four small brick rooms and two tin houses form the only school in an area where 1,700 Palestinians from 19 Bedouin communities live. In September, the Stop the Wall Campaign and the Middle East Children’s Alliance joined together to expand the school with one more classroom and a clinic. But on October 25, Israeli bulldozers and soldiers confiscated the modular classroom without any notice whatsoever. Stop the Wall Campaign reports that the four remaining classrooms and four other schools located in Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley have also received several demolition orders and face imminent destruction. With more demolitions on the way, it’s urgent we act today. The right to an education is a basic human right. It’s a right that the Israeli government routinely denies to Palestinians as part of its ongoing occupation, apartheid, settler-colonialism, and dispossession of Palestinian lands. Please join me in contacting U.S. officials to send a message to the Israeli military to stop its demolition of Palestinian schools like Wadi al-Maleh. In solidarity, |
|
Chung-Wha Hong P.S. Taking action is just the first step. Movements in Palestine and around the world need resources to keep up their struggle for justice in 2022. Please consider donating to our New Visions, Continuing Resistance end-of-year campaign and make an even greater impact. [1] “EU-funded Palestinian school faces Israeli demolition,” Al-Jazeera, Nov. 17, 2021. |
|
