Back to School in Palestine?

Between internal clashes and Israeli invasions, children fear for their safety. "I didn't feel safe at school because of the internal clashes" says Maryam, a 13-year-old student from Gaza, as she recalls this summer's clashes between Fatah and Hamas forces.

"Palestinian security forces entered the school and the classrooms," she says. "One time they ordered us to go down to the schoolyard. Then they told us to leave school and go home. I was so scared that day. I didn't feel safe at all."

Between May and July 2007, internal hostilities in Gaza escalated into intense fighting between rival Palestinian factions, and Israeli military attacks increased. Some 36 children were killed, according to Defence for Children International.

This autumn, schoolchildren still face instability, with Israel's recent declaration of Gaza as a 'hostile entity' giving authorities leeway to limit the transfer of goods to Gaza, cut back on fuel and electricity, and further restrict the movement of Palestinians.

"I'm afraid of new Israeli invasions or new bigger internal clashes," says 15-year-old Abdullah who has had firsthand experience of what could happen. He says, "Once there was a factional clash, and the next day we found the school's windows all broken. One time, all the windows got smashed during school because of the Israeli sonic booms. I really don't feel safe anywhere."

Even if Abdullah could attend classes safely, he and his classmates still face a shortage of stationery, continuous electricity cuts and the threat of violence inside school. Children in Gaza repeatedly say that teachers verbally abuse them and, at times, use corporal punishment. For example, Abdullah says the headmaster hit him several times last year.

"I would listen to teachers if they talk to me instead of beating me," says Abdullah. "I would even respect them. If I became a school headmaster one day, I would not use a stick. I would talk to my students in a respectful way and ask teachers to do the same."

What we're doing

Save the Children is managing a project to reduce violence and increase protection within children's schools and communities. We're working with an estimated 7,500 children in 15 schools and communities across the OPT and are developing alternatives to corporal punishment and child-to-child violence.

We're encouraging schools, communities, families, the Palestinian authority, the Israeli government, the international community and Israel to take responsibility for protecting children. And we're making sure that children's voices are heard across the project. As our documentation officer in Gaza, Rana El Hindi, says, "The important thing is to always ask children how best to help them or improve their situation. They give you great ideas, and it's important we put these ideas to use."

These ideas range from 15-year-old Mohammed's desire to "see more policemen to protect houses and people in the streets", to Abdullah's ideas for Save the Children and other organisations to "help children forget what they went through by going on trips and summer camps." Maryam wants "children's organisations to help students by buying them new school uniforms or paying their school fees."

Such suggestions may come as a surprise to children in the UK, many of whom take the safety of their daily journey to school for granted. But we should remember that education doesn't come as easily to Maryam, Mohammed, Abdullah and all the other children struggling to continue their studies among the instability and violence of Gaza.