Churches Struggle to Keep School Doors Open

By Fred Strickert

On a recent Wednesday afternoon in Bethlehem’s Manger Square, three Palestinian bishops led a demonstration calling for the right of Palestinian children to attend school. Anglican Bishop Riah Abu-al-Asal and Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan donned schoolboy baseball hats bearing the slogan, “End Occupation.”

“Our children have the right to be educated like other children in the world,” said Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, addressing the crowd of parents, students and teachers. “When we educate our children they receive hope for the present and the future. It is not good that they have to grow up in a swamp of hatred and occupation.”

Hard as it is to imagine that any country deliberately would deny children educational opportunity, or even put roadblocks in their way, this has been an integral part of the Israeli army’s strategy to humiliate the Palestinian people.

The situation is so serious that, in October, Pierre Poupard of UNICEF expressed strong criticism of the Israeli government. “Right now the Israeli military is preventing thousands of Palestinian children and teachers from attending school,” Poupard said. “A generation of Palestinian children is being denied their right to an education.”

There are nearly one million Palestinian children of school age. According to UNICEF estimates, more than 226,000 children and 9,300 teachers have been unable to reach their classrooms on a regular basis, and 580 schools have been completely closed.

In accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF said, Israel has an obligation to ensure education is accessible to every Palestinian child.

Curfews and Closures

This is not the first time Israeli-imposed closures and curfews have wreaked havoc on the Palestinian educational system. During the first intifada, from 1988 to 1992, 35 percent of school days were lost. Those who were elementary students then are now young adults. Those who then were in high school today are concerned about the education of their own children.

Beginning with Israel’s massive incursions last spring, strict curfews completely closed down the Palestinian educational system. With the sporadic lifting of curfews in selected cities, teachers scrambled to help their students make up what they had lost—in many cases, however, to no avail.

Students in the higher grades struggled throughout the summer to prepare for all-important exams and graduation before late August. In some cities like Nablus, they could not even meet this goal.

On Sept. 2, students marked the beginning of another academic year with excitement and hopes for better things to come in cities like Bethlehem and Ramallah, where the curfews had been relaxed. Sam Bahour wrote to his e-mail network about the surreal juxtaposition of his apprehension over tanks and military jeeps dotting the drive to the Ramallah Friends School and his daughter’s joyful anticipation. “Believe me when I tell you, Areen saw none of it from her excitement,” her father said. “Areen’s dream came true—she started 3rd grade on time.”

A week later, however, Sam reported how the Israelis seemed to be playing psychological games with their “on again-off again” policy. Two days of closures marked the first week of school. By month’s end, 11 days had been lost.

In other parts of the West Bank, students were forced to stay home the entire time. Teachers who lived any distance from their schools found checkpoints unsurpassable.

Schoolyard Violence

One cannot discuss the educational system without calling attention to the unusually high number of school-age children killed in the current uprising. The trauma and the psychological damage experienced by classmates have turned classrooms into counseling centers.

On Nov. 20, 13-year-old Amer Salman al-Qudsi made his way to school as usual. But when the headmaster informed him that the IDF had announced another closure, he turned to walk home. This time, however, he picked up a stone in frustration and hurled it at an Israeli tank. In response, Israeli soldiers shot him in the chest and killed him.

The schoolyard has not been immune from violence. On March 9, Jewish extremists planted a bomb outside the Zur Baher elementary school on the edge of Jerusalem. Only the quick action of the headmaster and teachers averted a catastrophe. In September, things did not turn out so well. Six Palestinian pupils between the ages of 6 and 13 were injured when a bomb exploded in the school yard of the elementary school at Yatta, south of Hebron. A second bomb was discovered in time.

Israeli forces have occupied schools as well. Such was the case last March, when the Israeli army occupied the Lutheran Dar Alkalima School in Bethlehem to launch its attack on neighboring Dheisheh refugee camp. Not only did tanks position themselves on the school grounds, but soldiers shot through no less than 12 doors—firing 24 bullets at one—to gain access to parts of the school. Offices were vandalized and children’s schoolwork trashed. The wooden cross that marked the entry to the school was taken down and destroyed.

Home Schools

This fall, determined not to lose ground in the new school year, parents and teachers made alternative plans. In a Sept. 24 New York Times article, Joel Greenberg described the underground “popular schools” as a form of nonviolent resistance.

In Nablus, especially, where curfews remained most stringent, students met in private homes, storerooms, and even a shoemaking shop. Abdallah Muna, a 22-year-old garage mechanic, donated his porch for classes. “In the first uprising I didn’t learn anything,” he explained, “and now I can barely read and write. Why should these children be like me?”

In many cases the volunteer instructors are young people whose own education suffered during the first intifada. Among them were Jamila Mabruk, a 20-year-old college student, and 24-year-old Liana Hamouz, who normally works in an accounting firm. Using a marker board propped up on a chair, engineer Ibrahim Hamouz taught math to students sitting crowded on the floor.

Christian Schools Defiantly Remain Open

After a month of disruptions and multiple days missed from school, leaders of nine Christian schools in Ramallah announced on Oct. 7 that they would remain open on curfew days. Parents of the students were highly influential in the decision-making, stating they were extremely concerned about their children’s education and did not want the continued interruptions in learning.

Michael Abu-Ghazaleh, headmaster of the Lutheran School of Hope, noted that the Israeli military had been successful in closing down his school for the entire week of Sept. 18 to 24. Most of the 452 K-12 students returned when the curfew was lifted on Wednesday, Sept. 25. Teachers sent home instructions with plans for the opening of school on curfew days. The following day, Thursday, Sept. 26, Israel again imposed a military curfew, but classes were held anyway. Abu-Ghazaleh reported that 85 percent of Lutheran School students were in attendance.

It has not been easy, however. The military has confiscated the cars of parents attempting to car-pool on curfew days. Others have paid fines of $250 for the effort. When children’s lives have been endangered, naturally, they have succumbed.

“We cannot let this happen,” Lutheran School director Dr. Charlie Haddad responded. “I believe we need to plan ahead to find alternatives for our children’s education. The students want to come to school, and I believe we need to keep the schools open, with the support of everyone involved. When we insist the schools must remain open, we are asking for a basic human right; our children deserve their education. Our society deserves to have its children educated.”

Dr. Haddad also pointed to various alternatives to continue education even when students are forced to remain at home:

•Effective and proper use of the Internet for teaching and learning;

•Assignment of research papers, with clear guidelines, goals and objectives;

•Assignment of worksheets prepared in advance by the teachers; and

•Conducting of classes in neighborhood homes.

All the churches are determined to offer full support for their educational programs.

Ramadan/Advent Demonstrations

In Bethlehem and surrounding villages, the “Let our children go to school” campaign has scheduled a series of six walks during the Ramadan and Advent season. Muslims and Christians have vowed to come together for these demonstrative walks, pausing at times to read portions of the Qur’an and the Bible relating to children’s education.

A spokesperson for the movement announced, “Our single demand is the right of education for all Palestinian children and youths in accordance with basic standards of international law.”

Fred Strickert is professor of religion at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa

sidebar

Churches Seek Tuition Assistance

“The future of this country depends on those who are well educated, so they can survive and help their families,” says the Rev. Canon Suheil Dawani, general secretary of the pastorate committee at St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem. However, economic hardships have made education a luxury that many Palestinian families can barely afford.

In response, all Christian churches in the Holy Land have appealed to their constituents for financial assistance in offering tuition scholarships.

“The economy has broken down,” reports Duane Burchick of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation. “and as a result the average annual income of a family is $1,100. The cost to send one child to school is $700 a year.”

Jerusalem Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan already had reported two years ago that tuition payments had come to a halt and that salary payments for teachers were months behind.

The churches have long been proud of their schools’ high academic reputation. Dr. Charlie Haddad, Lutheran schools superintendent, also calls attention to the particular goals which set them apart. These schools, he notes, aim to:

1. Mold the Palestinian Christian identity;

2. Teach coexistence with other religions and cultures, and promote the role of women, all in a coeducational setting;

3. Enhance moderation in order to combat political and religious extremism;

4. Promote nonviolence, peace education, pluralism and democracy;

5. Provide holistic, quality education in the traditional subjects while integrating and emphasizing a wide variety of the arts, and also vocational training.

In order to achieve such goals, schools are open to both Christian and Muslim students.

The following are a number of programs to provide financial assistance for Palestinian school children:

•The St. George’s Cathedral Scholarship Program provides tuition assistance for students in the Anglican schools. It began with a challenge grant of $15,000 from Los Angeles-area resident Armond Habiby. Contact Nancy Dinsmore, Development Officer, Episcopalian Diocese of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 19122, Jerusalem 91191, e-mail: <Devedjer@netvision.net.il>.

•Tuition assistance for the Lutheran Schools is coordinated by the Division for Global Mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Contact Rev. David Lerseth, ELCA-DGM, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631, phone: (773) 380-2635, e-mail: <dlerseth@elca.org>.

•The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem encourages participation in the Child Sponsorship programs of The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation. For further information see the HCEF Web site: <www.hcef.org/projects/childsponsor.html>, or contact Duane Burchick, HCEF, P.O. Box 6687, Silver Spring, MD 20906, phone: (301) 871-9222.

•The Shepherd Society at Bethlehem Bible College provides family sponsorship programs which includes a special category for tuition assistance. Contact Rev. Nihad Salman, e-mail: <bethbc@PLANET.EDU>.

•The Episcopalian Diocese is also promoting the School Book Campaign to provide books for school libraries, and the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation provides Children’s English Reading Clubs with book donations. —F.S.