Press Release - Palestinian Primary School to be Demolished

Brighton-Tubas Solidarity Group Press Release

Palestinian Primary School in Fasayil to be demolished on the 29th of
November

For More Info Contact Tom Hayes or Sarah Cobham on 07846506710 or
 thewallmustall@riseup.net

www.brightonpalestine.org/blog / tubas.brightonpalestine.org

This summer, the Popular Committee of Fasayil, together with the
Palestinian Save the Jordan Valley Initiative of the Anti-Apartheid Wall
Campaign and the Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group, started
to build the first and only primary school in Fasayil, a village in the
heart of the Jordan Valley. The grassroots project is part of a solidarity
project between community groups in Brighton and Tubas region in
Palestine.

In defiance of the Israeli occupation's complete ban on house construction
in the Jordan Valley, the shell of the new school was completed in
September (see photos of the school building at
 http://charity.dc5b.com/fsp/).

The school was built out of traditional mud bricks, using traditional
building techniques, and would provide a resource for more than 115
children. It aims to help resolve the grave educational crisis that is
affecting Fasayil and many other communities in the Jordan Valley, caused
by military restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation forces.

Education is a crucial tool for empowering Palestinian children to
confront the harsh life they endure under theoccupation, opening a
perspective that goes beyond a future as slave labourers in the
occupation's settlement plantations.

On Thursday, the 17th of October, however, the so-called 'Military Civil
Administration' issued a demolition order for Fasayil's primary 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 demolition order issued against the primary school, the
community has to dismantle the school within 40 days or face the arrival
of the occupation's bulldozers and a heavy fine for not respecting the
construction ban.

But villagers and local activists are defiant: "They can knock our school
down as often as they want. We cannot stop them from doing so. We will
build the school again and again and again. They cannot destroy our
determination to give proper education to our children."

"Our children's education is our future! They will not succeed in their
attempts to drive us from our land.”

Tom Hayes, from the Brighton Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group, said:
'We plan to launch a campaign against the demolition of the school. The
demolition of civilian property is a war crime and is intended to make
life impossible for the people of Fasayil. We will stand with the people
of Fasayil in demanding the right to educate their children.'

For more info, photos and interviews contact Tom Hayes or Sarah Cobham on
07846506710 or  thewallmustall@riseup.net

www.brightonpalestine.org/blog / tubas.brightonpalestine.org

Petition Agains the Demolition -
 http://brightonpalestine.org/blog/?page_id=224

Photos of the building of Fasayil School at  http://charity.dc5b.com/fsp/

Campaign Pack - Stop the Demolition of Fasayil School -
 http://brightonpalestine.org/blog/?p=233