Education International (EI) has strongly condemned Israeli military raids on two major Palestinian universities in the West Bank during the early hours of December 9.
In a statement issued recently, the global union federation of teachers’ unions called the operations a violation of international rules protecting educational institutions.
The statement comes after the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) stormed Birzeit University, near Ramallah, and Al-Quds University, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. According to EI, the IDF forced both campuses to suspend activities while soldiers entered facilities, detained security personnel, and deployed snipers.
“Such attacks undermine the fundamental right to education and exacerbate the humanitarian and educational crisis in Palestine,” EI said, urging Israeli authorities to halt the attacks on schools and universities.
EI stated that violence and conflict in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been disrupting the learning and academic lives of Palestinian children and youngsters alike. It refers to data from the United Nations (UN), which shows that Israel’s war on Gaza destroyed nearly half of its school buildings, and killed 6,37,000 school-aged children.
The union federation also emphasised that such actions undermine the right to education, academic freedom, and the safety of students and staff, and expressed solidarity with its Palestinian affiliates, including the General Union of Palestinian Teachers and the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees.
United Nations bodies have sharply condemned what they describe as a ‘scholasticide’ in Gaza, reporting that Israeli military operations have devastated the territory’s education system.
A UN Commission of Inquiry found that up to 90-95 per cent of schools and universities have been damaged or destroyed, warning that the scale of destruction lacks military justification and may amount to war crimes.
Both the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) say that hundreds of thousands of children are now out of school, with Gaza’s entire education infrastructure in collapse.
