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Friends United Meeting |
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May 2001
Ramallah Update...
The Intifada's Effect on Palestinian Education
By Mahmoud Amra
The Intifida of 1987-1993, an uprising of the Palestinian people for their national rights in freedom and independence, affected all aspects of Palestinian society including education.
A few weeks after the outbreak of the 1987 Intifada, the Israeli authorities enforced several measures of collective punishment aiming at stopping the Intifada. Among the most severe was the collective closure of educational institutions, preventing students and employees from entering them. The universities and colleges remained closed until the end of 1990, when the Israeli authorities allowed them to reopen on a gradual basis. All schools in the West Bank were subject to frequent and extended closure orders. During the first two years of the Intifada, the schools in the West Bank were not allowed to operate for 11 months. In effect about 35% of the Palestinian population was repeatedly denied access to any form of formal education.
In response to the closure of educational institutions, the community sought alternative forms of education. One of the most important alternatives was popular education organized by neighborhood committees. Teachers, parents and university students started teaching children in homes, churches, mosques and gardens. Soon after, the Israeli occupation declared this form of education to be illegal, and any person found participating in popular education was liable to be jailed up to ten years and to pay a fine of $5000. Some schools prepared learning materials for children to learn at home. This alternative was also unacceptable by the Israeli authorities, and schools were ordered to stop such "illegal" activity.
Two weeks after the first closure of schools, teachers at the Friends Schools in Ramallah began to issue learning materials for their students to learn at home. With the help of parents, those materials were distributed for children and returned to the teachers regularly to be checked. Israeli soldiers entered the Friends schools several times in an attempt to stop the schools from preparing such materials. At a later stage, the Friends schools arranged for their students to meet with teachers to review the learning materials at a private school in Jerusalem (The closure orders did not include the schools in Jerusalem). The Friends Schools extended their experience in producing such materials through a joint project with the Educational Network, a non-governmental educational organization, in which teachers from different Palestinian schools were trained to produce school materials for the purpose of distance-learning.
The closure of educational institutions was justified by Israeli officials on security grounds. Israeli authorities claimed that schools, colleges and universities are potential places for "disturbances" because big numbers of students gather in them. However, the fact that Israeli authorities closed even kindergartens and issued military orders to stop other alternative forms of education suggests that Israel was aiming at punishing collectively the Palestinian people for demanding freedom and independence. The closure of educational institutions for long periods of time resulted in a significant drop in academic standards for the upper grades and a major rise in illiteracy in the elementary grades. Three generations of school graduates were denied access to higher education as a result of the continuous closure of universities. These were the immediate negative consequences of the closure. Several educators are researching now the long-term effect of the closure of educational institutions during the Intifada.
On the other hand, the Intifada acted as a catalyst for change and development in education. The measures of the Israeli authorities against Palestinian education urged individuals, organizations and groups all over the world, including Israel, to condemn these measures and to take initiatives towards protecting the right of Palestinian children and youth in education. The international condemnation of the Israeli policy has developed into practical steps in helping develop Palestinian education. Many governments and organizations helped in developing the educational system in the Palestinian occupied territories.
On the local level, the Intifada further developed the national identity of the Palestinian people. Palestinians realized how important education is. They also wanted to decide what and how their children should learn. Palestinian educators initiated different projects to produce learning materials, to develop a Palestinian curriculum and to train teachers on using effective teaching techniques. Most of these projects were planned and conducted in cooperation with different educational organizations from different parts of the world.
The fruits of all these efforts have already started to appear with the issuing of the first Palestinian curriculum for grades one and six. Children in these grades started using this curriculum at the beginning of the 2000/2001 school year. The Palestinian Ministry of Education is planning to introduce gradually a new Palestinian school curriculum in all grades by the year 2004.
Mahmoud Amra is the Head Administrator at the Ramallah Friends High School.
Keef Awadea Fi Ramallah?
By Colin South
Keef Awadea Fi Ramallah? (How Is The Situation In Ramallah?) This is one of the phrases Kathy and I have been learning during our Arabic classes which take place at the British Council in Jerusalem every Tuesday and Thursday evening. The situation is, as I write today, gloomy.
We are currently on holiday, renewing our visas and meeting with alumni from Friends Schools here in Amman, Jordan. It has been a great few days and the weather has been wonderful. We are staying in Lillian PetersŐ flat. Lillian is the American Friends Service Committee Representative here in Amman. Tonight we will travel back to Palestine and will be pleased to be returning to work.
Just yesterday the road we usually take between Jerusalem and Ramallah was sealed off, as, in effect, have all roads leading to Ramallah. This is the first time this has happened in the memory of our friends in Ramallah. This final phase of "strangulation" began last week with the digging of a 400 metres trench across the newly built Birzeit road, the last point of easy access into Ramallah from all the northern villages bounding the town. The effect of this has also meant Birzeit University has been unable to recommence classes after the break for the Al Nada holiday this semester. This change in road closures reflects a policy of containment by Israel and is a strategy recommended by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) for keeping control, quelling clashes with their forces and preventing acts of terrorism in Israel.
By eleven this morning, all but two teachers have arrived at the Friends Boys School and all at the Friends Girls School, but some of our pupils are absent at both schools. I think none of us should underestimate the achievement that this represents...that only two of the teachers at the Boys School are absent and that most the students are in school. In many cases, for both teachers and students, this has meant journeys of one to four hours to school on foot, as vehicles cannot be used on the damaged roads. The journey back home is often much more difficult than the journey to school and, in the end, some will abandon the struggle to return to their family and stay overnight with relatives or wherever they can find accommodation. Our students, of course, include many Palestinian-American citizens who are trying to live peacefully here and attend school. There is no discrimination between these American citizens and Palestinian nationals. They are both treated equally by the Israeli Defense forces. The reason why our teachers and students have managed, for the most part, to get to school is due in no small measure to a determination not to allow this policy of community strangulation by the Israeli Defense Force to have the satisfaction of stifling every aspect of everyday life for the people in this part of Palestine.
Please pray for the cessation of violence in the hearts and lives of the oppressors and the oppressed. Violence did not begin with the Palestinians and is in no measure at an equivalent level to the violence that is perpetrated against them by the Israeli authorities. This violence must stop. It is destructive of human rights and the quality that is invested in each of us by a loving God. Please act and help put pressure on governments to recognize that Israel's security depends essentially on the respect for the values inscribed in the Torah by the Israeli government in their treatment of the alien in their midst. No injustice of this magnitude can be justified by reference to a land covenant with Moses without a similar recognition of a love covenant with a gracious God who is God, Father and Mother of all creation.
Please pray for peace in Palestine and Israel and pray that through God's grace common sense and common humanity will prevail.
(Editor's Note: This report was written March 12, 2001, just in time to meet the May deadline. The situation rapidly changes; updates are available from FUM by request.)
Colin South serves FUM as Director of Ramallah Friends Schools. He is from London Yearly Meeting.
Copyright (c) 2001 Friends United Meeting
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