[News] Israeli forces demolish Palestinian elementary school in Hebron

[Anti-Imperialist News]

qudsnen.co
<https://qudsnen.co/israeli-forces-demolish-palestinian-elementary-school-in-hebron/>
Israeli forces demolish Palestinian elementary school in Hebron
QudsN - November 24, 2022
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[image: image.png]
Palestinian schoolchildren cry as Israeli occupation forces cordoned off
the Asafat school in Masafer Yatta, in the south of the occupied West Bank,
before demolishing it, on 23 November 2022 (B'Tselem rights group)

Hebron (QNN)- Israeli occupation forces demolished on Wednesday a
Palestinian elementary school in Masafer Yatta in the southern occupied
West Bank city of Hebron.

The boys’ and girls’ school of Asafat was demolished in Asafat al-Fawqa,
one of the villages that make up the area of Masafer Yatta, whose
Palestinian residents have long been threatened with forced displacement
and demolition orders by Israeli occupation authorities.

The school was demolished by the Israeli forces while it was in session and
students were inside, local sources said, adding the forces used sound
bombs to scare the children and get them out of the school.

Media coverage: "Israeli occupation forces raid a school in Masafer Yatta
region, south of Hebron, during classroom hours, disrupting classes".
pic.twitter.com/UKidlJFf2J <https://t.co/UKidlJFf2J>

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) November 23, 2022
<https://twitter.com/QudsNen/status/1595366606460157952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Video footage taken by Israeli activist Itai Feitelson before the
demolition shows teachers helping the students to get out of a classroom
window while Israeli forces standing outside.

ילדי בית הספר בספאיי בורחים מהחלון לאחר שנזרקו רימוני הלם מחוץ לכיתה שלהם
לפני שכוחות הכיבוש הרסו להם את ביה"ס. התעמולה הציונית מתייחסת לצילומים כאלה
כפרופוגנדה ושימוש בילדים, האמת פשוטה בהרבה: זה נראה רע כי זה רע.
pic.twitter.com/YWmugElhxA <https://t.co/YWmugElhxA>

— Itai_Feitelson (@ItaiFeitelson) November 23, 2022
<https://twitter.com/ItaiFeitelson/status/1595363534518587392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Dozens of Israeli occupation soldiers then cordoned off the area around the
school, which stood on a hill, while a bulldozer razed it.

Moments ago the school was completely demolished pic.twitter.com/eSMq6jibCZ
<https://t.co/eSMq6jibCZ>

— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) November 23, 2022
<https://twitter.com/btselem/status/1595344066237063169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Local sources noted that the Israeli forces confiscated the school’s
stationery, tables and chairs before flattening the building.

The Asafat school was built about a month ago and had been operating for
less than two weeks. It serves the Palestinian residents of the communities
of Asafat al-Fawqa, Asafat al-Tahta, Maghayer al-Ubaid and Tuba. It had 23
pupils and three teachers. The nearest other school to the villages is
about four kilometers away.

An Israeli court rejected on Wednesday a petition by Palestinian residents
against the demolition after the Israeli military argued that the location
posed a “danger to the students”.

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said the demolition “is part of a state
effort to drive Palestinians out of the area by making their lives
unbearable. Expelling residents is a war crime.”

Today Israel demolished a primary school in Masafer Yatta that had 23
pupils and three teachers.

This is part of a state effort to drive Palestinians out of the area by
making their lives unbearable.

Expelling residents is a war crime. pic.twitter.com/l8MAGS9rMh
<https://t.co/l8MAGS9rMh>

— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) November 23, 2022
<https://twitter.com/btselem/status/1595423485123211264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The Palestinian Ministry of Education condemned the demolition in a
statement on Wednesday morning and described it as a “heinous crime”.

“It is an addition to the series of ongoing crimes by the occupation
against the educational sector, and its targeting of children, students,
educational cadres, and institutions [is] without regard for international
charters and laws,” the statement continued, adding that such practices are
“a flagrant violation of students’ right to safe and free education”.

The European Union delegation to the Palestinians tweeted that it was
“appalled” by the school demolition and affirmed that Palestinian
educational rights must be respected.

“Greatly alarmed by Israeli measures targeting humanitarian structures.
Continued coercive measures threaten the existence of the Palestinian
communities” in Masafer Yatta, the delegation wrote.

1/2 Appalled by news that ISF demolished the donor funded Sfai school in
Masafer Yatta in occupied Palestinian territory, one day after a diplomatic
visit by several EU member states.  Palestinian children’s right to
education must be respected. pic.twitter.com/g2kGlFtW16
<https://t.co/g2kGlFtW16>

— EU and Palestinians (@EUpalestinians) November 23, 2022
<https://twitter.com/EUpalestinians/status/1595372056899891200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Masafer Yatta is a rural area in the south of the occupied West Bank, home
to over 1000 Palestinians including 500 children. In May, Israel’s Supreme
Court ruled
<https://qudsnen.co/btselem-slams-israeli-decision-of-forcibly-displacing-over-1000-palestinians-in-masafer-yatta/>
that the ancient Palestinian villages of Masafer Yatta be ethnically
cleansed of their Palestinian inhabitants, in one of the largest forced
expulsions of Palestinians since the Naksa of 1967.

The ruling concluded a more than two-decade legal battle waged by the
residents against their displacement. The Israeli occupation now has the
green light to demolish their homes and force them out at any moment under
the pretext that they live in an Israeli army “firing zone”.
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