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Education not Occupation!

Help us stop the illegal demolition of Fasayil Primary School

Stop the Occupation from breaching the Geneva Convention by destroying yet another community project aimed at building a future for Palestinians.

We, the undersigned, condemn the Israeli occupation force s decision to demolish Fasayil Primary School.

Enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the right to education is embedded in international law, in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Education is a crucial tool for empowering Palestinian children to confront the harsh life under occupation, opening a perspective that goes beyond a future as slave labourers in the occupation s settlement plantations. Article 50 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates that, The Occupying Power shall, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities, facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children

Described by the UN as both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realising other human rights, education is an essential tool in the preparation of young Palestinians for the challenge of rehabilitating their fragmented society, boosting their floundering economy, and building a future state.

On Thursday, the 17th of October, however, the so-called ‘Military Civil Administration’ issued an injuction on the building of the school as well as yet another Palestinian family’s home in the village. Construction work requires a permit from the occupation authorities, but since the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, not one has been granted. The systematic ban on construction is clearly aimed at driving Palestinians out of the Jordan Valley. This ban is part a systematic policy of ethnic cleansing by the Israeli state

According to the injunction issued against the primary school, the community has to apply for a permit by 29th November. Permits are never issued in Fasayil as the land is designated as \'agricultural\' by the Israeli authorites. The military could demolish the school soon after the 29th.

The systematic ban on construction is clearly aimed at driving Palestinians out of the Jordan Valley.

Fasayil Primary school will provide an important resource for 115 local children who otherwise would not be able to receive a local education. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has determined that under international human rights law education has to be within safe physical reach for those that it serves. The Military Civil administration s decision to deprive the community of this resource is part of a wider policy of ethnic cleansing in the area.

Fasayil primary school is situated in illegally occupied territory. The demolition of civilian property by the occupying force s is a breach of the Geneva Convention.

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