On 10 December 2014, several Palestinian school children suffered from excessive gas inhalation after Israeli troops fired tear gas near the Ibrahimiyya School in Hebron City during school hours. One child was rushed to the hospital. Other children and staff including the headmaster were treated in the school by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The school then closed to protect the children. The Israeli military stated that there had been a “minor” riot at the intersection near the school.
“This is not the first incident in this school. In the last two months, more than twelve incidents happened. This is part of our daily life here,” said the headmaster of the school, Hasan Eamar.
Since 1997, Hebron city – the largest urban center in the occupied southern West Bank – has been divided into two parts: H1 and H2. H1 is the part of the city where there is little Israeli military presence and no Israeli settlements. H2 is the central part of Hebron including the Old City, where 40,000 Palestinians reside with several hundred Israeli settlers in their midst.
The settlers live in five Israeli settlements – illegal under international law – and are supported by a large Israeli military presence which controls all Palestinian movement and activities in H2. Civilian responsibilities like education and health are separate - for the Palestinians they are controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and for the Israeli settlers by Israeli authorities.
“Being in H2, the school is isolated from the rest of the city. One has to pass at least one of three checkpoints to get to the school,” described the school headmaster.
The Ibrahimiyya School is located in an area close to some of the Israeli settlements. Over 6,000 Palestinians live in neighborhoods adjacent to the settlements.
Palestinian movement in these areas is heavily restricted, and many Palestinians have been displaced as a result. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), there are over 120 movement obstacles and checkpoints in H2, including 18 permanently staffed checkpoints. Several streets are prohibited for Palestinian traffic and some also for pedestrian movement.
Israel justifies these measures as protection for Israeli settlers.
According to the school headmaster: “The Ibrahimiyya school is not able to operate like other Hebron schools. The children have to leave school early so they don’t meet the Israeli settler schoolchildren on the street. During the many annual Jewish holidays, most of the Palestinian schoolchildren cannot get to the school due to the access restrictions and in the past even curfews. During these periods, Palestinian teachers cannot reach the school or have to walk through houses and yards to reach the school.”
Baha’, a 13 year old students in the school told NRC:
“Every day, I leave my house at 6 a.m. to take my younger brother to the school. I pass near the checkpoint. I see most of the teachers being delayed at the checkpoint. They are held up and come late to school. I was annoyed seeing my teachers stopped and being checked.”
Coercive environment leading to displacement In H2, Palestinians suffer from almost daily incidents of Israeli military and settler harassment and violence. According to UN OCHA, “between 2012 and 2013, approximately 700 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces or Israeli settlers in Hebron city, and 44 Israelis were injured by Palestinians.”
The violence and harassment has had the effect of pushing Palestinian families out of H2 or away from the areas closest to the Israeli settlements. A survey by Israeli human rights groups found that more than 1,000 Palestinian homes in the restricted areas of H2, over 40% of the area’s residences, had been abandoned.
Settler attacks have included physical assault, including beatings at times with clubs, stone throwing, hurling of refuse, water, chlorine, empty bottles and other objects, occasionally using sharp objects, destruction of shops and doors, shattering of windows, theft, cutting of fruit trees, destruction of merchants’ stands, and verbal insults.
Referring to some of the harassment at the school, Mr. Eamar, the school headmaster stated: “Usually the Israeli settlers come to the school with the soldiers, claiming that the kids threw stones. I try to stop the settlers. I don’t want the kids to be afraid. But the army doesn’t accept what I say, so I have to take them into the school yard so they can see that there are no stones.”
The large Israeli military presence also contributes to the difficult environment.
One of NRC’s education officers described the situation for school children: “On our way to meet the children in the school, we saw Israeli soldiers arresting an eight-year old child, claiming that he was throwing stones. Our work with the schools in the area is a big challenge but it is badly needed.”
Mr. Eamar, the school headmaster, summed up the situation for his pupils: “The children’s grades are not promising, but one can understand why. It’s not easy being stopped at a military checkpoint before an exam, or concentrating in a classroom when tear gas is fired near the school.”