Old Jerusalem Schools .. Why do Israel deliberately dump it?

Aseel Soldier - Occupied Jerusalem

350 female Jerusalemite students will not be able to sit in school at the "Khalil Sakakini" preparatory school in the Old City at the beginning of the next school year, after the Israeli municipality decided to unload it and convert it to uses that are not yet clear.

The building of the school - known as "Qadisiya" - is known to the municipality as a state property since the occupation of the city in 1967. The risk of unloading also extends to the Jerusalem Preparatory School for Boys, which also includes 150 students.

Students were surprised a few days ago to delete the schools from the list of open schools for registration in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades of next year, and were informed from the municipality that there is an intention to close the schools to be absorbed students in other schools.

Maqdisi Nader Jaber of these, where his wife went to the Qadisiya school to register their daughter in the seventh grade for next year, and was the first questions asked to "Which curriculum you want to teach your Palestinian or Israeli?", And then surprised parents the next day to disappear the name of the girl from the list The school principal told them that they had to go to the municipality to find out what was wrong.

"We have had eight children, all of whom studied the Palestinian curriculum in the Old City, and now they want to close the schools to send our children to study outside the walls," Jabir said. "The school is now available in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. My daughter is arbitrarily from the schools of old Jerusalem and I will refrain from sending them next year to any place if they close the school. "

Legal offense
The head of the Federation of Parents' Committees in Jerusalem, Ziad al-Shamali, said during a meeting in one of the houses of the old town to discuss the new step in the fight against education in Jerusalem - that the union will fight through legal battle lawyers to thwart the new step.

He added that the Israeli action is a violation of the law, as it prevents the systems of knowledge to enroll junior high school students in primary schools, and this is what the municipality seeks to next year, in addition to organizing protest steps led by the parents of students targeted transportation to communicate their point of view to the official authorities.

"The municipality claims that it will provide them with seats in two other schools in the Old City, but that there is no actual capacity for them, which paved the way for their transfer to the schools of Ala and Alwadi, which implement the Israeli curriculum, and opened one of the beginning of the academic year Current to be opened next year.

For his part, the president of Al Aqsa Academy for Waqf and Heritage Najih Bakirat - in his speech to the island Net - that he launched a call in 2015 warned of this scheme, which began to harass the students and teachers going to their schools in the Old City, through beatings and search and arrest, even The percentage of students who have abandoned schools within the walls to 35%, he said.

He added that the attempts to involve the Israeli curriculum in schools in East Jerusalem escalated, saying that "the plan to empty the old town of education is the biggest blow we receive. It is unfortunate that schools disappear in the town, which was called in the Middle Ages stronghold of science and scientists, the existence of 54 schools.

The municipality rents the Jerusalem Preparatory School for Boys from the Qarayyan family of Jerusalem with a lease that is renewed every five years. The last contract is supposed to end two years later, the time to close the school.

Archaeological building
The building of the Khalil Sakakini Preparatory School for Girls has a history that is said by the researcher in the history of Jerusalem, Robin Abu Shamsia, that it was built in 1147 in the Crusader period, like a church that sponsors the Georgian "Karaj," but most of these properties were abandoned in Jerusalem and turned to the Greek Orthodox, From the cellar and the two floors above.

During the Ayyubid period, the leader Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi moved to the Waqf of the Royal Palace. The building was rebuilt in 1193 under the reign of Aziz Osman.

The upper floor was destroyed in the Mamluk period as a result of an earthquake and was rebuilt. It was rebuilt in the early Ottoman period and used as a book, but was neglected in its late stages and was not stopped until it was empty.

After the occupation of the city of Jerusalem in 1967, the building was automatically transformed into state property. The name of the school changed to Qadisiyah, and then it returned. The name of Khalil Sakakini.

long history
The walls of the building have a long history of education, but will soon be emptied of students to become one of the arms of the occupation, which is sometimes said that the place will be used for education services and other times it will become a museum or will be the share of the Israeli Antiquities Authority.

Talks about the Israeli attack on education in Jerusalem have been increasing for some days, especially after the announcement by the Israeli occupation authorities two days ago that all UNRWA schools in Jerusalem would be shut down at the beginning of the next school year, weeks after a secret meeting of the Israeli National Security Council In the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to approve a plan to close and expel the institutions run by UNRWA in the occupied city.

Six schools in Jerusalem are affiliated with UNRWA, and some 1,800 students are studying. In Shu'fat camp there are three UNRWA schools, two for females and one for males, with a total of 850 students.