South of Hebron: Being School Kid

I post a part of the report of two peace activists, Kristin Anderson and Piergiorgio Rosetti that describes the children’s daily journey to and from school in at-Tuwani. It highlights infringements on the children’s rights to safety and education. The data demonstrate the Israeli military’s negligence of its Knesset-affirmed mandate to ensure the children’s safe passage.

Data in this report were collected during the 2007-08 school year,

A Dangerous Journey: Settler Violence Against Palestinian Schoolchildren Under Israeli Military Escort

'Sometimes the soldiers push us and we fall down. Because of that, we drop our bags and run away. The soldiers use bad language. The soldiers who have a kippa make us run fast. When we get home we are really tired. Sometimes we have a good escort, good soldiers. They walk slowly with us.

There is a woman settler. She is a bad woman. One time she met us and she caught us and grabbed my hands and squeezed. I asked for help from the soldiers, and they never helped. The soldiers never care. They are just driving. The soldiers come late.'

M., girl from Maghaer al-Abeed

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Nearly four years after the Israeli military’s agreement to provide an escort, and the affirmation of this agreement by the Knesset Committee for Children’s Rights, the situation of the children of Tuba and Maghaer al-Abeed has worsened. The children continue to be harassed and attacked by Israeli settlers and soldiers during their travel to and from school. The Israeli military, which was given a mandate to ensure the safety of the children, has consistently failed to do so.

Military and settler violence and police and military complacency all contribute to the violation of the rights of the children, including rights to security, safety, and education. In addition to missing school classes due to the tardiness of the Israeli military, the children also suffer from nightmares about violent attacks and often express fear about their safety. Moreover, despite ongoing settler attacks on the children, the Israeli police have failed to prosecute settlers who use violence against children.

During the preparation of this report, the children’s 2008 summer camp was taking place. During the first ten days of summer camp, settlers attacked the children four times. On Sunday, 27 July, 2008, several settlers chased the children and threw rocks at them. One settler attacked a member of CPT, causing head injuries requiring hospital treatment. After this incident, one mother of the children said, “The beginning was worse, but after today it seems harder than the beginning. The settlers are still beating the kids.” This incident further demonstrates the fact that almost four years later, the involvement of the Israeli police, military and Knesset has not improved the children’s safety.

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The whole report in is available in English or Italian from Humanity Together blog or below.

The picutres are taken from Kristin&Piergiorgio's Flickr page of those days.