FEB. 19, 2017
(File)
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli forces surrounded a primary school in the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank on Sunday morning to deliver demolition orders for some of its classrooms, locals in the village told Ma’an.
During the raid of the school, which has been threatened with demolition by the Israeli government for years, Israeli forces prevented faculty and students from accessing the building.
Locals said that Israeli soldiers imposed a military closure on Khan al-Ahmar before they stormed the village’s school to deliver the demolition warrants.
Palestinian Minister of Education Sabri Saydam denounced the Israeli raid on the school, describing it as a “systematic and abusive procedure.”
The raid came as the latest in a years-long legal battle waged by the Israeli government and residents of illegal Israeli settlements surrounding Khan al-Ahmar to demolish and relocate the school, which was built in 2009 with the assistance of an Italian NGO, Vento Di Terra, using ecological methods including construction out of used tires.
In August last year, after reports emerged that the Israeli prime minister’s office ordered the school to be closed down, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the state of Israel provide a formal opinion on the school the following week.
In October, the state postponed issuing a decision at the Supreme Court for four months.
Now, some four months later, the status of case remained unclear. A spokesperson for the Israeli Justice Ministry told Ma’an they were looking into the details of the case.
The Israeli NGO Rabbis For Human Rights, who assists the Khan al-Ahmar community with legal and other support and also confirmed reports of Sunday’s raid, has previously speculated that Israel was avoiding making a decision as a result of the immense international pressure not to demolish the school, which has become one of the most high-profile targets of Israel’s massive demolition campaign against Palestinian homes and livelihood structures.
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Categories: Israel, Palestine, The Muslim Times