7/23/2019 Jerusalem Children Squeezed Out of School by Israeli Discrimination

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Jerusalem children squeezed out of school byIsraeli discrimination

Palestinian schoolgirls walk by cement roadblocks erected by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem’s

Jabal al-Mukabir neighborhood !" #ctober $%!&'

  Mahfouz (bu )urk(P( images

Charlotte Silver-3 January 2016

E*ery year around +%% boys in the Jabal al-Mukabir neighborhood of occupied East

Jerusalem complete middle school and are ready to ad*ance to the ne,t grade'

ut fewer than half of them are able to find a spot in the only secondary school in the

neighborhood .akhnin /igh .chool' Many 0ust drop out altogether'

1ooking for space in another area is not a solution' )he shortage of classrooms

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a*ailable to students in Jabal al-Mukabir is replicated throughout the occupied city'

Israel has militarily occupied East Jerusalem since June !"23 and formally anne,ed it

in !"4%'

5o country recognizes Israeli so*ereignty and under international law its anne,ation

of the city is null and *oid'

ut under the 6ourth 7ene*a 8on*ention which the 95 .ecurity 8ouncil has

repeatedly stated applies to Israel the occupying power is responsible for the welfare

of the population it rules'

Classroom shortage

It is conser*ati*ely estimated that $$:3 new classrooms are needed to meet current

shortages and replace e,isting substandard facilities for Palestinian students in East

Jerusalem according to a new report by Israeli human rights group Ir (mim'

)hat adds up to a need for school places for an estimated 4%%%% students'

Ir (mim says that the dearth of classroom space is responsible for the fact that +2

percent of children in East Jerusalem do not complete a high school education'

In 6ebruary $%!! following a decade of litigation Israel’s high court ruled that the

authorities’ neglect of Palestinian schools in Jerusalem *iolated their right toeducation'

)he go*ernment and the Israeli-imposed Jerusalem municipality were gi*en fi*e years

to correct the enormous gap between the need for and a*ailability of official education

facilities for Palestinians'

ut with the deadline nearly reached it is clear from Ir (mim’s report that the gulf

remains as wide as e*er'

“)he gaps re*iewed in this report ha*e intolerable repercussions for tens of thousandsof children; Ir (mim states' )hese children <ha*e no place in the official educational

system and are forced to study in recognized but unofficial institutions';

.ince $%%! the number of students attending schools that fall under this status

including .akhnin /igh .chool has multiplied by a factor of $$ while the number

enrolled in official schools has grown a modest :% percent'

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=ecognized but unofficial schools recei*e some education ministry funding but are

pri*ately operated charge tuition fees and are far inferior to official schools according

to Ir (mim' )hey are frequently located in o*ercrowded buildings and lack basic

facilities such as air-conditioning heating laboratories and libraries'

Ir (mim calls the rising number of students in such schools alarming' )heir rapid

increase is a reflection of the desperate need for more classrooms than the

municipality and the Israeli education ministry pro*ide not student or parental

preference'

 (t the beginning of the academic year in $%!& parents in Jabal al-Mukabir refused to

send their children to .akhnin due to the substandard quality of education'

Ir (min notes that parents in the neighborhood ha*e been *ery acti*e in ad*ocating for

 better facilities for their children' In July $%!& a group of parents filed a lawsuit

against the Israeli authorities for their refusal to open a school for boys in the

neighborhood'

#f !%&%%% Palestinian students in school in East Jerusalem :$ percent are in official

schools :$ percent are in recognized but unofficial schools and the remaining !2

percent are in pri*ate schools'

/owe*er there are at least !$3%%% Palestinian children of school age in East

Jerusalem which means that the educational status of $$%%% children is unknown'

Highest dropout rate

)he neglect of education in East Jerusalem has led to Palestinians there ha*ing the

highest dropout rate anywhere in historic Palestine'

Palestinian children in East Jerusalem ha*e a dropout rate of !+ percent more than

twice the rate for Palestinian citizens in present-day Israel'

)he dropout rate for male and female secondary students in the Israeli-occupied >est

ank and 7aza .trip where education is run by the Palestinian (uthority and 95

agencies is about $'& percent according to the 9nited 5ations ?e*elopment

Programme'

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 >est Jerusalem the part of the city that became o*erwhelmingly Jewish as a result of

the !":4 ethnic cleansing of its Palestinian population by @ionist militias has a

dropout rate of 0ust one percent and boasts $! programs dedicated to dropout

pre*ention'

East Jerusalem which is still predominantly Palestinian despite Israel’s ongoing

efforts to ethnically cleanse it through home demolitions colonization and re*ocation

of residency rights has a mere eight such programs A due to a lack of funds'

In $%!: the Israeli go*ernment decided to in*est in the socioeconomic de*elopment of

Jerusalem <for the benefit of all of its residents; according to Ir (mim'

 Bet the plan budgeted C$: million to police and 0ust C!$ million to education for all of

Jerusalem' 5owhere does the scheme mention the se*ere shortage of classrooms for

Palestinian children'

Ir (mim notes that +4 percent of the sum allocated for education was directed towards

Israel’s efforts to assert its control o*er East Jerusalem in *iolation of the needs

 wishes and rights of Palestinians there'

Discriminatory planning

 (nd while $%!& saw the construction of more classrooms in East Jerusalem than in the

pre*ious !: years combined the number of new classrooms built since $%%! is still

only half of what is needed merely to keep up with population growth'

 >hile Ir (mim does not e,pand on the reasons why Israeli authorities ha*e failed to

meet their court-ordered obligations Israel’s longstanding discriminatory planning

policies certainly offer a partial e,planation'

In !"3& Bisrael Dimhi a senior interior ministry official e,plained Israel’s plan for its

newly conquered territory in East Jerusalem <one of the cornerstones in the planning

of Jerusalem is the demographic question';

In other words it became Israeli go*ernment policy to limit the growth of the

Palestinian population in East Jerusalem while promoting Jewish settlement'

.o while +4 percent of East Jerusalem’s planned areas ha*e been confiscated for the

de*elopment of Jewish settler neighborhoods only $'2 percent is zoned for public

 buildings A such as schools A for the city’s indigenous Palestinians'

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Posted by )ha*am