With the end of the summer holiday, the children of al-Ka'abneh School, which belongs to a Palestinian Bedouin community near Jericho, have returned to school amid harsh conditions yet with strong determination.

The Israeli occupation authorities have so far handed the school administration 22 demolition notices. However, the families of al-Ka'abneh Bedouin community do not prevent their children from going to their school every day as it has become a symbol of their steadfastness in their lands.

The roads to school are rocky and unpaved, making it both difficult and dangerous for the al-Ka'abneh students to navigate their way there, Haj Ali Ka'abneh told the PIC reporter.

The Israeli occupation authorities do not allow any infrastructure project in al-Ka'abneh community which, in addition to being a border area with Jordan, is classified as Area C and a military zone.

Determined to learn
Despite all obstacles, teacher Asmaa al-Amour welcomed her students on the first day with new plans for a long school year full of hope and challenge.

Al-Amour told the PIC reporter that al-Ka'abneh school has existed since it was a tent in 1967, and now it has 22 classrooms, each with a story of steadfastness and determination to learn despite the occupation.

She complained that the roads to the school are rugged, there is no electricity in the area, and the classrooms, which are built of wood, nylon and tin, make it unbearable for students to learn in such a high-temperature area.

Although some institutions have provided the school with solar cells as alternative power sources, she said, they often do not operate and their batteries break down repeatedly.

Defiance
Al-Ka'abneh School, located northwest of Jericho City, is frequented by 80 students enrolled in grades 1 to 9.

In addition to Israel's prohibition of any construction or infrastructure project for al-Ka'abneh school, it is located close to Israeli army camps, which poses a constant threat, yet the school is expanding by the will of the people of al-Ka'abneh community, and each new caravan turned into a classroom is met with a new demolition order.

Al-Ka'abneh School was established in 1967. A tent was its first and only classroom at that time. The school kept expanding defying all Israeli restrictions, pressures and threats.

Mahmoud al-Jarmi, a Palestinian citizen, said that the students of al-Ka'abneh school learn under intolerable conditions. "We are required to offer them all forms of support. This school is different from other schools; it is one of our weapons against forced displacement in the Jordan Valley," he stressed.

Source: The Palestinian Information Center