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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israeli forces demolish Palestinian elementary school in Hebron</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">QudsN - November 24, 2022<br></div>
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<div><img src="cid:ii_lavd93f20" alt="image.png" width="392" height="221"><br>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)
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<p>Hebron (QNN)- Israeli occupation forces demolished on Wednesday a
Palestinian elementary school in Masafer Yatta in the southern occupied
West Bank city of Hebron.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Media coverage: "Israeli occupation forces raid a
school in Masafer Yatta region, south of Hebron, during classroom
hours, disrupting classes". <a href="https://t.co/UKidlJFf2J">pic.twitter.com/UKidlJFf2J</a></p>
<p>— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) <a href="https://twitter.com/QudsNen/status/1595366606460157952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p>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.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="rtl" lang="iw">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. <a href="https://t.co/YWmugElhxA">pic.twitter.com/YWmugElhxA</a></p>
<p>— Itai_Feitelson (@ItaiFeitelson) <a href="https://twitter.com/ItaiFeitelson/status/1595363534518587392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Dozens of Israeli occupation soldiers then cordoned off the area
around the school, which stood on a hill, while a bulldozer razed it.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Moments ago the school was completely demolished <a href="https://t.co/eSMq6jibCZ">pic.twitter.com/eSMq6jibCZ</a></p>
<p>— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) <a href="https://twitter.com/btselem/status/1595344066237063169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Local sources noted that the Israeli forces confiscated the school’s
stationery, tables and chairs before flattening the building.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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”.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Today Israel demolished a primary school in Masafer Yatta that had 23 pupils and three teachers. </p>
<p>This is part of a state effort to drive Palestinians out of the area by making their lives unbearable. </p>
<p>Expelling residents is a war crime. <a href="https://t.co/l8MAGS9rMh">pic.twitter.com/l8MAGS9rMh</a></p>
<p>— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) <a href="https://twitter.com/btselem/status/1595423485123211264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p>The Palestinian Ministry of Education condemned the demolition in a
statement on Wednesday morning and described it as a “heinous crime”.</p>
<p>“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”.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“Greatly alarmed by Israeli measures targeting humanitarian
structures. Continued coercive measures threaten the existence of the
Palestinian communities” in Masafer Yatta, the delegation wrote.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">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. <a href="https://t.co/g2kGlFtW16">pic.twitter.com/g2kGlFtW16</a></p>
<p>— EU and Palestinians (@EUpalestinians) <a href="https://twitter.com/EUpalestinians/status/1595372056899891200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p>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 <a href="https://qudsnen.co/btselem-slams-israeli-decision-of-forcibly-displacing-over-1000-palestinians-in-masafer-yatta/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">ruled</a>
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.</p>
<p>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”.</p>
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