ATTACKS ON GAZA..R2E Fact Sheet

January 2009

GAZA

ATTACKS ON GAZA - DECEMBER 2008

On the 27th of December, 2008, Israel launched a mass military attack against Gaza, code-named "Operation Cast Lead". The operation is ongoing, and over 600 Palestinians have been killed so far. Educational institutions have also been hit:

27/12/08: An air missile hit the Gaza Training College in downtown Gaza city: 8 students were killed and 19 were wounded.

29/12/08: The Islamic University of Gaza was bombed, destroying the science lab block and other buildings including the library. Israel has still produced no evidence of their claim that the science lab was used as a 'research and development center for Hamas weapons'.

3/1/09: Israeli jets level the American school in Gaza, killing its security guard and denying 200 students their right to education.

3/1/09: The Israeli military fired 4 artillery shells near the Agricultural School in Beit Hanoun, damaging the school's building and injuring 3 passersby.

5/1/09: Israeli aircrafts fired 15 missiles around the Omar Ibn Al Khattab School in Beit Lahia.

6/1/09: Israeli missiles hit 2 UNRWA school buildings which are now being used to shelter Gazans who have fled their homes in response to Israeli army leaflets telling them to flee or die in the rubble of the impending bombardment. According to John Ging, Director of Operations in Gaza of UNRWA, 30 people died and 55 others were injured when three Israeli artillery shells landed at the perimeter of Al-Fakhoura school in Jabaliya Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip

Damage to property

* In June 2006, an F-16 fighter plane bombed the Islamic University in Gaza.

Movement restrictions

* Since 2004, Israel has totally prohibited Palestinian residents of Gaza from studying in the West Bank. In 2006, a ruling in the Israeli High Court forbade 10 Palestinians from accessing Bethlehem University to study Occupational Therapy. The argument used by the State was that once they were given permits to leave they would become "information carriers".

Israel has also banned Gaza residents accepted to Israeli academic institutions from entering Israel for their studies. Travel abroad is therefore the last remaining option for students wishing to pursue academic studies in the many fields not offered in the Gaza Strip.

* After the closing of Rafah crossing in June 2007, 722 Palestinian university students studying abroad were trapped in Gaza - about 30 study in US universities, and 10 in the UK. Another 2,000 students enrolled in foreign schools were also trapped. They are part of the 7,500 Gazans who need permission to continue their work, education or medical treatment outside of Gaza.

The human rights organisation, Gisha, states that in September 2007 there were 1,100 university students wanting to leave Gaza to study abroad, of whom 480 were able to leave. However, Israel has not operated trips transporting students from Gaza to Egypt since January 2008.

* May 2008: 7 Fulbright Scholarships were to be re-directed due to the Israeli ban on freedom of movement of students. In a last minute u-turn, all 7 applications were reconsidered. U.S. Department of State sent students an email saying: "We are working closely with the government of Israel in order to secure its cooperation in this matter."

Three of the students - Zuhair Abu Shaban, Fida Abed and Osama Daoud - were eventually granted permission to attend visa interviews in Jerusalem and on 30 of July the US issued their visas to the US. Two days later, the visas were revoked due to undisclosed "additional information" according to State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos.

Eventually, only 4 of the 7 Fullbright Scholars managed to leave Gaza and continue their education.

* According to PCHR, approximately 200 of the students managed to leave Gaza when Rafah border crossing was open for 2 days at the end of August 2008. As of September 2008 approximately 400 students remain trapped and therefore at risk of losing their university places.

Trauma

* Queen's University, Belfast, produced a report stating that 98% of children in Gaza suffer from psychological trauma, serious and debilitating psychiatric and psychological effects.

* The head of UNRWA in Gaza, John Ging, stated that "Among other things, the cumulative impact of years of violence and closures, of disrupted schooling and endemic poverty is clear from the stark exam results of Gaza's schoolchildren." (The Independent, 6 Oct 2007)

Economic Resources

* Nearly 78% of the population live below the poverty line, resulting in many poor families alternating which children they send to school so they can share the same uniform.

* In September 2007, UNRWA revealed that 30% of their students were without textbooks as the Israeli army prevented them from entering Gaza. UNRWA accounts for 200,000 students in Gaza, about half the total number of school children in the Strip.

* The ban was extended to all raw materials such as paper, ink, and binding materials and exacerbated the shortage, particularly as PA-run public schools textbooks are printed in Gaza after they replaced the Egyptian curriculum with their own in 2006. The Palestinian Education ministry said 27% of government school textbooks had not been printed by September 2007. Government schools take care of half the total number of school children in the Gaza Strip.

* Since April 9th, 2008, the Israeli blockade on fuel supply to the Gaza strip has paralysed 50% of the educational sector, as half the students at all levels of education are unable to reach their schools and universities.

* October 2008: Palestinian Legislative Council member, Jamal Al Khudari, announced that the Israeli siege has cost Gaza universities 50 million dollars in development projects due to their inability to import raw materials for construction, mostly affecting medical and technological facilities. He also stressed the inability to properly run universities and schools without adequate electricity, water or heating during the winter months.

Source: R2E Fact Sheet
Right to Education Campaign , Birzeit University.