[News] Israeli police raid three Unrwa schools in East Jerusalem to enforce closures

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-police-raid-three-unrwa-schools-east-jerusalem-enforce-closures>
Israeli police raid three Unrwa schools in East Jerusalem to enforce
closures
MEE staff
May 8, 2025
------------------------------

The raids follow closure orders for six Unrwa-run schools in the city which
will deprive some 800 Palestinian students of their education
[image: Palestinian schoolgirls in the playground of an Unrwa school in the
Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, on 6 May (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)]

Palestinian schoolgirls in the playground of an Unrwa school in the Shuafat
refugee camp in East Jerusalem on 6 May (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)

Published date: 8 May 2025 11:33 BST | Last update: 5 hours 43 mins ago

Israeli <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel> Ministry of
Education officials, accompanied by armed security forces, raided three
Unrwa-run schools in East Jerusalem’s Shuafat refugee camp in an attempt to
enforce their closure on Thursday morning, the UN agency for Palestinian
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine>refugees has reported.

The raids were conducted under new Israeli laws that effectively ban
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-unrwa-ban-collapse-palestine-health-education-food>
Unrwa’s activities in Israel, and occupied East Jerusalem, and follow Israeli
Ministry of Education orders
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/how-unrwa-school-closures-could-damage-education-hundreds-palestinian-students>issued
in April for the closure of six of the agency’s schools in the city.

The orders, set to take effect on 7 and 8 May, will deprive some 800
children of their education, just weeks before the end of the school year.

According to Unrwa, Israeli forces detained a staff member at one of the
schools, gathered ID numbers of personnel and ordered them to dismiss the
550 students who were present in class.

Unrwa added that police are also being deployed at three other schools in
occupied East Jerusalem. Staff said they had to release the 250 students
who were in attendance at schools in Wadi Joz, Sur Baher and Silwan, to
ensure their safety.

“This is a grave violation of the privileges and immunities of the United
Nations,” said Roland Friedrich, the director of Unrwa affairs in the
occupied West Bank.

“This is a traumatising experience for young children who are at immediate
risk of losing their access to education. The current school year runs
until 20 June 2025."

"Unrwa remains committed to delivering its services while ensuring the
safety and security of its staff and beneficiaries,” he added.

The raids follow the Israeli Supreme Court’s rejection of an urgent
injunction <https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/11239> on 23 April by
the legal advocacy group Adalah, demanding a halt to the enforcement of the
closure orders.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/how-unrwa-school-closures-could-damage-education-hundreds-palestinian-students>

How Unrwa school closures could damage the education of hundreds of
Palestinian children


On 7 May, Adalah wrote
<https://www.adalah.org/uploads/uploads/UNRWA_School_letter.pdf> to the
Israeli authorities renewing its demand to immediately halt the enforcement
of the orders and warning that the closures are illegal under Israeli law.

Since the 1950s, Unrwa has run schools and medical clinics in East
Jerusalem, which Israel seized during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 and
unilaterally annexed in 1980.

The agency is now the second biggest provider of education in the
occupied Palestinian territories after the Palestinian Authority, operating 96
schools
<https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/news-releases/unrwa-launches-2024-2025-academic-year-west-bank-amidst-increasing-insecurity-insecurity>
in
the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and serving almost 50,000
students from the first to the ninth grades.

On 2 May, the International Court of Justice concluded week-long hearings
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-tells-icj-no-justification-israels-ban-aid>
into what Israel's humanitarian obligations are in the occupied Palestinian
territories.

The majority of states argued that the country is in breach of its
international legal obligations to facilitate the entry of aid to the
population under its occupation.

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