Israel denying Palestinian children an education, says Unicef

2.30pm - by JUSTIN HUGGLER

JERUSALEM - The United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, has accused the Israeli army of preventing 170,000 Palestinian children from going to school.

In an unusually forceful statement today, Unicef's special representative in the occupied territories, Pierre Poupard, said: "A generation of Palestinian children is being denied their right to an education".

In what Unicef said was a breach of the Geneva conventions and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a curfew across much of the West Bank enforced with bullets by the Israeli army has prevented children from reaching school.

Unicef's statement came one month into the Palestinian school year. During that time, in most West Bank cities the entire population has been under 24-hour curfew seven days a week.

Except for a few hours break every 10 days or so, no Palestinian can leave their house - and that includes children trying to go to school. Israeli troops have opened fire on those breaking the curfew, including children.

Children from villages not under curfew have been unable to travel to school because of closures enforced around towns by the army. Many children have been prevented from sitting exams to get qualifications they need.

"Right now the Israeli military is preventing tens of thousands of Palestinian children and teachers from attending school," Mr Poupard said today.

The figures published by Unicef were stark: almost 170,000 Palestinian children and 6,650 teachers are unable to reach their regular classrooms. At least 580 schools have been closed because of the curfews and military closures.

The Israeli government says the curfews and closures are necessary to prevent suicide bombings and other attacks against Israeli citizens -- despite the fact these have continued even though the curfews have now been in place for several months.

All the major Palestinian towns in the West Bank have been under curfew since June, except Bethlehem, where the curfew has been lifted, and Jericho, which the Israeli army has not reoccupied.

The areas where education has been worst affected areas are the northern West Bank towns of Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarm, Unicef said.

Palestinians have tried to set up alternative ways of educating their children. Many children are now gathering in mosques, basements or alleyways their parents believe they can reach safely without been shot at for lessons. Others are being schooled by their parents at home. One Palestinian radio station has begun broadcasting lessons over the airwaves.

But none of this ingenuity is a substitute for proper schooling, Unicef says. In a statement yesterday the organisation cautioned that the quality of home education cannot be assessed or assured.

Mr Poupard described the various alternative schooling methods as an indication of the extent to which the regular lives of Palestinian children are being devastated by this conflict.

Unicef today called for the restrictions on movement to be lifted during school hours "as an absolute minimum".

Israel is obliged to allow Palestinian children to go to school under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and has an extra obligation under the Geneva Conventions because it is an occupying power, Unicef says.

- INDEPENDENT

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