The Police of Israel have enforced the closure of schools which are run by the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem on May 8th, prompting worries over potential attacks on teaching staff and students.
The Palestinian Ministry of Education said the shutdown is “a crime against education and is part of a systematic and ongoing assault on education in Jerusalem,” according to Middle East Eye.
The Israeli Ministry of Education issued the directive, alleging the schools operated without proper authorisation.
Unrwa’s Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, accused Israeli officials of denying kids their educational rights and condemned their “blatant disregard of international law.” He added in his post on X: “These schools are inviolable premises of the United Nations,” the BBC reported on May 8th.
In 2024, Israel’s legislature enacted laws banning interactions between Israeli officials and UNRWA. They also banned the agency’s operations within Israeli land.
According to the The Washing Post on May 8th, Shujan Abu Remailah, a Shufat refugee camp local said: “The presence of soldiers inside a school scares the girls,” She continued, “decision to close the school has affected their spirits and their future because they have nowhere to go.”
The closure means roughly 800 children will not have access to education, just weeks before the academic year finishes. The UN agency has administered schools and medical clinics in East Jerusalem since the 1950’s.
Al Jazeera reported on April 8th, that Israeli authorities demanded six UNRWA schools in occupied East Jerusalem to close within 30 days. with Israeli police, with Education Ministry officials, entered UNRWA-run schools in Shuafat, Silwan, Sur Baher, and Wadi al-Joz.
BBC, Middle East Eye, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera
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