Lesson of the Day: Gas The Arabs

On Friday 28th April, settlers from Beit Hadassa colony, in Tel Rumeida, on the outskirts of the old city of Hebron, vandalized a school path at Qurtuba school which is used by local Palestinian children.

ISM said Friday in a press release that the path was being built with money from TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron). The builders had just laid bricks along the path above Beit Hadassa colony.

At 2 pm on April 26 builders had stones thrown at them by children from Beit Hadassa. Shortly afterwards international Human Rights Workers (HRWs) saw an adult settler looking at the building work and making several calls on his mobile phone.

Between 6 and 7pm yesterday, says ISM, a group of 20 adults and children from Beit Hadassa climbed the steps to the school and began tearing up the bricks and throwing them down the steps.

Citizens said Israeli soldiers did try to intervene but did not stop the vandalism. Israeli Police also attended but no arrests were made.

A Palestinian family living behind Qurtuba school said that when the settlers approached the school they were frightened that they would attack them and they called their children inside the house.

Frequency and seriousness of attacks in Tel Rumeida has been increasing over the past weeks. The most serious attacks occur on shabbat. Last Saturday 30 settlers attacked a Palestinian shop on Tel Rumeida Street and assaulted a young Palestinian.

HRWs are afraid that more attacks will occur this Saturday and have written an Open Letter to the Police. [source]


The remains of a path to Qurtuba school, destroyed by settlers as Israeli soldiers failed to intervene.

So kids go to school everyday, and suddenly a big wall comes up and makes it either harder or impossible to go anymore. Kids go to school everyday and suddenly a big settlement is built in the middle of the path they have to take. So what happens when a Palestinian child living in occupied territories, living in poverty, is prevented from going to school? What happens when their first lesson of the day is not about math or science, but a big graffiti on the school door which reads ‘Gas the Arabs’?

7 Comments

  • I have a picture that I took of a dirty van in Amman with the words “F*ck the Jews” scribbled on it. So it sounds like the sentiment is mutual.

  • Dave, there is nothing that you or anyone can say that justifies this damn wall being built. Security barrier my ass.

  • Why the outrage over the wall?

    I don’t see any Arabs provoking outrage over a wall the Saudis are building(with British help) a wall near the Iraqi border to ward off jihadis from that country.

  • There’s outrage over the wall for a few reasons, one being that, according to Human Rights Watch, 80% of the wall is on the Palestinian side, which makes it illegal under international law. Even the Supreme Court of Israel has ordered Israel to reconsider the route of the wall. Read here for more–http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/23/isrlpa12086.htm

Your Two Piasters: