Education under Attack 2014 - Israel/Palestine

Palestinian schools and universities were targeted with air strikes, attacked by Israeli settlers and in some cases used by Israeli armed forces as interrogation centres or surveillance posts. Israeli schools were hit by indiscriminate rocket fire.^[913]

Context

Hundreds of incidents of attacks on education – including killing and injury of students and teachers, and damage to schools during fighting – were documented in Israel/Palestine in 2009-2012 by the UN. The great majority of incidents occurred in connection with the Israeli military operations 'Cast Lead' (27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009) and 'Pillar of Defence' (14 November 2012 to 21 November 2012) in Gaza, and with Israeli administrative and military arrangements in Area C of the West Bank.

Palestine is comprised of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, with Israel located between the two. Control of the land and education systems is divided between different authorities. The Israeli Ministry of Education is responsible for education in Israel, and the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the Hamas-run education ministry in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and private providers run schools in the West Bank and Gaza.

Attacks on education in the West Bank are largely linked to territorial, administrative and security arrangements. Following the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement (commonly known as the Oslo Accords), it was divided into Areas A (Palestinian National Authority (PNA) military and civil control), B (PNA civil/Israeli military control) and C (Israeli civil and military control, comprising more than 60 per cent of the West Bank).^[914] Sources of tension and violence include the expansion of Israeli settlements that dot Area C, restrictions on Palestinian construction and movement imposed by the Israeli military, violence and intimidation by the Israeli military and the violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers and Palestinian militants and protesters.^[915] In particular, education is adversely affected by restrictions on movement, curfews, denial of building permits and the issuing of demolition orders against schools, settler attacks on schools and universities, and actions of Israeli military forces.^[916]

In Gaza and southern Israel, education suffers primarily from active armed conflict between Israel and the Hamas government, which violently ousted the PNA from Gaza in 2007, and other Palestinian factions.^[917] An ongoing back-and-forth pattern of Palestinian rocket launches and Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes has damaged schools primarily in Gaza but also in Israel.

UNOCHA reported in July 2013 that 13 schools located within the Access Restricted Areas in Gaza, established in 2000, had been damaged or had classes disrupted by the enforcement of restrictions on access in the area extending up to 1.5 kilometres from the border with Israel. According to UNESCO, schools in the restricted area have also been damaged by the activity of Palestinian armed groups, some of whose rockets have fallen short and hit schools in Gaza during the reporting period.^[918]

Israel's closures of border crossings, limits on sea access, and restrictions on access to land areas limited the entrance of building materials and prevented travel of Gazan students and education staff.^[919] Moreover, Egyptian authorities imposed tight restrictions on Palestinian students and education staff crossing the border at Rafah, in southern Gaza. Gazan authorities also limited students' travel outside the area.^[920]

Conflict has also caused physical harm and psychosocial distress to students and education staff. In Gaza, during Operation Cast Lead, 265 students and teachers were killed and 875 injured;^[921] during Operation Pillar of Defence, 21 students and school staff and teachers were killed and 343 injured. In both cases, it is not known how many casualties resulted from targeted attacks.^[922] In southern Israel, students and staff face the constant fear of intermittent attacks on civilian areas by unguided rockets and mortars launched by Palestinians from Gaza, which have hit schools and school transport, killing one student and injuring another, and injuring a bus driver, during 2009-2012.^[923]

The first Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in three years restarted on 29 July 2013.

Net primary school enrolment in Israel was 97 per cent and net secondary school enrolment was 98 per cent (2010), while in Palestine, these figures were 87 per cent and 81 per cent (2011) respectively.^[924] At tertiary level, gross enrolment was 62 per cent (2009) in Israel and 51 per cent (2011) in Palestine.^[925]

In both the West Bank and Gaza, educational achievement has dropped in recent years, with examinations showing a decline in overall results.^[926] In Israel, rocket attacks have caused thousands of students to miss out on learning periodically.^[927]

Attacks on schools

Both Israeli armed forces and settlers in the West Bank and Israeli armed forces and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza and southern Israel allegedly perpetrated attacks on schools and other education facilities.

During Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009, at least 280 out of 641 schools in Gaza were reportedly damaged and another 18 destroyed.^[928] It is not specified how many were damaged in targeted attacks; many were damaged during firing at Palestinian military positions and training sites. Incidents during the reporting period included the total destruction by aerial bombardment on 3 January 2009 of the American School in Beit Lahia, in the north of the Gaza Strip, which Israel claimed Palestinian armed groups were using as a firing position (this was disputed by local residents and the school's director);^[929] and damage to the Beit Lahia Elementary School, an UNRWA school, as a result of Israeli forces' shelling with white phosphorous, killing two boys and injuring 13 others who were using the school as an emergency shelter.^[930] The impact of the destruction of schools was subsequently compounded by an ongoing blockade imposed by Israel^[931] that restricted access to building materials and other education supplies required to repair the damage, resulting in substandard school facilities, overcrowded classrooms and the under-resourcing of educational activities.^[932]

In 2009 and 2010, the UN reported instances of Israeli forces being in schools following raids, forced entry, and search and arrest operations. In some cases, tear gas was used on students. The incidents resulted in damage to schools, interruption of education and placed students' safety at risk. A number of incidents involving the vandalizing of school buildings in the West Bank by Israeli settlers were documented in UN and media reports. On 21 October 2010, for example, vandals alleged to be settlers set fire to a storage room in a West Bank Palestinian girls' school and left graffiti on its walls.^[933]

An Islamist Palestinian armed group claimed responsibility for setting fire to an UNRWA summer school for Palestinian children in Beit Lahia in May 2010; and an unidentified group of 25 armed militants set fire to a similar summer school in Central Gaza in June 2010.^[934] One Palestinian rocket landed near an Israeli kindergarten in 2010.^[935]

In 2011, according to the UN, there were 46 incidents of violence related to education.^[936] In six instances, settler violence targeted schools in the West Bank; these cases involved settlers throwing objects such as rocks and bottles at schools, physically assaulting children and teachers inside schools, and vandalizing schools with graffiti and arson.^[937] In one case, Israeli settlers set fire to a prayer room at a school in the Nablus governorate.^[938]

In 11 incidents during 2011, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) fire in Gaza, targeting military installations or training sites, damaged schools.^[939] Among these was an UNRWA school, reportedly damaged by Israeli airstrikes in December 2011.^[940] Two schools were damaged in 2011 by Palestinian rockets aimed at Israel, but which landed in Gaza.^[941] In one instance, unknown masked and armed men attacked and vandalized an UNRWA summer games facility.^[942]

In 2011, there were 11 instances of IDF personnel entering schools in the West Bank – with no reasons given or known. In some of these instances, schools were affected as a result of clashes occurring close to them and tear gas canisters landing inside school grounds.^[943] According to a UN respondent, in some instances the IDF entered schools to 'intimidate' staff and pupils against stone throwing.^[944]

Also in 2011, there were four instances of indiscriminate rockets launched from Gaza resulting in damage to schools in southern Israel. In one specific instance, an anti-tank missile from Gaza hit a school bus and killed a 16-year-old Israeli boy. It is not possible to ascertain if any of these attacks was targeted.^[945]

In November 2012, the Israeli military operation Pillar of Defence, in which Israeli forces targeted military installations and training sites, resulted in the damage of more than 290 school buildings in Gaza,^[946] including 60 UNRWA school buildings.^[947] Rockets launched by Palestinian armed groups during the hostilities damaged six school buildings in seven incidents in southern Israel.^[948] Schools in both Gaza and southern Israel within a 40-kilometre radius of the border with Gaza were closed as fighting intensified.^[949]

The UN documented 27 additional incidents of violence related to education in the West Bank in 2012.^[950] There were 21 instances of IDF personnel entering Palestinian schools.^[951] Israeli military personnel conducting security sweeps ahead of Israeli settlers' night-time religious events entered the Haj Ma'zoz Al Masri Secondary School for Girls in Nablus on six separate occasions.^[952] Eleven other times, Israeli forces tried, sometimes successfully, to enter school premises, often during search operations, disrupting classes and sometimes damaging schools. Israeli forces fired tear gas or live ammunition at schools in another four instances in 2012.^[953] For instance, on 13 November 2012, Israeli police allegedly fired tear gas inside Aba Secondary Mixed School, causing 29 students to seek medical attention, after violence erupted when interior ministry officials attempted to post demolition orders for illegal building work.^[954]

In 2012, Israeli settlers from the Yitzhar settlement threw stones at the Palestinian school in Urif (near Nablus) on four separate occasions. One incident, on 23 April 2012, triggered clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces and settlers during which teargas was fired, injuring eight Palestinian children.^[955]

Demolition and stop-work orders

In 2011 alone, Israeli authorities issued nine schools in Area C of the West Bank with demolition or stop-work orders,^[956] bringing the total number of such schools to 38, including several considered at imminent risk, and affecting 4,300 children.^[957] Under these orders, schools cannot be rehabilitated to meet minimum humanitarian standards or can be demolished at any time.^[958] Such orders can represent a denial of access to education or a threat to deny access. A school in Khirbet Tana, near Nablus, was demolished in 2010 for the sixth time by Israeli forces. In Dkaika village, South Hebron, another was partially demolished in 2011.^[959] In 2012, Israeli authorities issued demolition orders against three Palestinian schools in Area C and East Jerusalem for being built without a permit.^[960] On 14 May 2012, Haaretz reported that a Palestinian elementary school was shut down after Israel's Civil Administration confiscated the vehicle used to transport teachers to it. The school also had a demolition order against it, although the nearest alternative school was 20 kilometres away.^[961]

Attacks on school students, teachers and other education personnel

In southern Israel, in April 2011, an anti-tank missile fired from the Gaza Strip struck a school bus, killing a 16-year-old boy and injuring the driver.^[962] It was not possible to ascertain if it was targeted.^[963] Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Al-Qassam Brigades, an armed wing of Hamas.^[964]

In the West Bank, schoolchildren, teachers and other personnel faced intimidation by Israeli settlers and military forces. Out of 101 communities surveyed by the Education Cluster and the Child Protection Working Group in 2011, 28 experienced settler violence against students and teachers and 26 experienced threats against them.^[965] In one case, at Qartaba School in Hebron, there were reports of pupils and staff being harassed or threatened. In October 2011, a guard at the school was allegedly assaulted by a group of settlers after he tried to stop them from throwing glass and empty bottles at the building.^[966] In December 2011, according to Ma'an News Agency, settlers allegedly tried to stab a sixth-grade pupil at the school and hit another who tried to defend him, while Israeli soldiers allegedly looked on without intervening.^[967] During the incident at a Palestinian school in Urif in April 2012 (mentioned earlier in the Attacks on schools section), in addition to throwing objects at schools, Israeli settlers physically assaulted children inside schools and on their way to and from school.^[968]

One-quarter of Palestinian communities questioned in the 2011 Education Cluster and Child Protection Working Group survey also reported that schoolchildren, youth and teachers experienced Israeli military harassment or violence while en route to and from school, and 31 per cent indicated that students and teachers had to cross at least one military checkpoint to reach their schools, which affected more than 2,500 children each day.^[969] Sixteen per cent of children in the communities surveyed claimed to have experienced delays and harassment by military and security personnel while crossing these checkpoints or the separation barrier.^[970]

Military use of schools

The UN found evidence of the military use of schools in the West Bank in 2011 and 2012. For example, in March 2011, the Israeli military used a school in the village of Awarta as a detention and interrogation centre for two weeks after five members of an Israeli family were killed, allegedly by Palestinian youths. ^[971] In April 2011, Israeli forces broke into a Nablus school and went on the roof to provide security to a nearby area that settlers were visiting at night.^[972] In 2012, there were two incidents of schools being occupied by the IDF.^[973] In one of the incidents, according to the International Middle East Media Centre, Israeli soldiers used a school east of Jenin city as a military post and monitoring tower in November 2012.^[974]

Attacks on higher education

Higher education was affected by similar violence. In Gaza, during Operation Cast Lead, 14 of the 15 higher education institutions were damaged, with six directly targeted, according to the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights in Gaza. Three colleges and six university buildings were fully destroyed. The total damage was estimated at USD 21.1 million.^[975] Seven universities in Gaza were also damaged during Israeli airstrikes in November 2012.^[976]

University students and faculty were injured or arrested by Palestinian and Israeli forces. In one incident, Gazan police entered the campus of Al-Azhar University in Gaza and attacked protesting students, allegedly beating them with clubs.^[977] According to media and human rights reports, Israeli security forces arrested 20 university students from 2009 to 2012.^[978] For example, Israeli forces reportedly detained a 20-year-old university student from Tulkarem city because of his graduate research project on the construction of a pilotless plane, which they said posed a threat to Israel's national security.^[979] One academic who called for a one-state solution was detained without charge by the Israeli authorities in 2011 and was still being held two years later.^[980] At least nine academics and university staff were reportedly detained^[981] by the Palestinian Authority – including eight from An-Najah University accused of being affiliated with Hamas and attempting to start a new university in the West Bank.^[982]

Palestinian students and professors experienced restrictions on movement that negatively impacted their educational activities, including a blanket Israeli ban on travel for Gazan students and professors to study or lecture at Palestinian universities in the West Bank. In October 2009, the Palestinian interior ministry and an NGO campaigning for freedom of movement reported that 838 Gazan students who were formally offered places and/or enrolled at foreign universities were unable to leave Gaza because of travel restrictions and bureaucracy.^[983] Hamas also barred seven students from travelling to the United States for a year of study under a US programme, citing worries over their supervision.^[984]

Attacks on education in 2013

A wide range of types of attack on education continued to be reported in 2013. These included demolition orders against primary and secondary schools in East Jerusalem and the West Bank,^[985] settlers stoning schools and students^[986] and school buses carrying students,^[987] acts of intimidation by settlers, the use of tear gas in and near Palestinian schools by Israeli police, and shootings of students by Israeli soldiers.^[988] Police found military weapons and explosives stashed in two schools in Israel.^[989] There were also reports that the Ministry of Education in Gaza was organizing military-style training for school children aged 15-17, with training provided by the Hamas National Guard and militants with Hamas's armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, and that the Prime Minister was planning to extend it to 12-year-olds.^[990]

913 This profile covers attacks on education in 2009-2012, with an additional section on attacks on education in 2013.

914 For map and explanation regarding area divisions under the Oslo Interim Agreement, see United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Occupied Palestinian Territory (OCHAOPT), Humanitarian Factsheet on Area C of the West Bank (East Jerusalem: OCHAOPT, July 2011).

915 Ibid.; and HRW, World Report 2013: Israel/Palestine (New York: HRW, 2013).

916 UNOCHA, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Consolidated Appeal 2013 (New York: UNOCHA, 2013), 27, 64-5; Interviews with teachers at Qurdoba school, Hebron, by Brendan O'Malley in May 2012.

917 "Gaza Strip Profile," BBC News, last updated 6 January 2009; and "Gaza crisis: maps and timeline," BBC News, 6 January 2009.

918 UNOCHA, "Access restricted areas (ARA) in the Gaza Strip," July 2013; Save the Children, "Fact Sheet: Children's Right to Education in Armed Conflict," October 2011, 3-4; UNESCO, "Safe Schools: Protecting Education from Attack, Twelve Schools in the Gaza 'Buffer Zone'," 2010; and interviews with members of the Working Group on Grave Violations against Children in Gaza, by Brendan O'Malley, May 2012.

919 UNOCHA, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Consolidated Appeal 2013 (New York: UNOCHA, 2013), 1, 64-5; and HRW, World Report 2013: Israel/Palestine (New York: HRW, 2013).

920 Information provided by Human Rights Watch, October 2013.

921 Association of International Development Agencies, The Gaza Blockade: Children and education fact sheet, 2009.

922 UN-OCHA, Humanitarian Monitor – Monthly Report, March 2013, 10.

923 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/66/782 – S/2012/261, 26 April 2012, para 96; UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/67/845 – S/2013/245, 15 May 2013, para 112; UNICEF, "UNICEF concerned over the impact of violence on children in Gaza and Southern Israel," 12 March 2012; "Gaza rocket hits Israeli school," Israel Today, 24 June 2012; Elior Levy, "Gaza rocket hits near Ashkelon school," YNetNews, 29 November 2012; "Gaza children struggle to cope with life under fire," Reuters, 18 November 2012; Aron Heller, "Anti-rocket school protects kids near Gaza," AP, 27 August 2012; "Hamas rockets hit 2 Israeli schools," CBS News report, 19 November 2012; Isabel Kershner, "Missile from Gaza hits school bus," New York Times, 7 April 2011; "Hamas rockets hit 2 Israeli schools," CBS News report, 19 November 2012; Information provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013; and UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/65/820-S/2011/250, 23 April 2011, para 120.

924 The World Bank, "School Enrollment – Primary," The World Bank Data (2010, 2011; The World Bank, "School Enrollment – Secondary," The World Bank Data (2010, 2011).

925 The World Bank, "School enrollment – tertiary (% gross)," The World Bank Data (2009, 2011).

926 UNICEF, The situation of Palestinian children in The Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon: An assessment based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 16; UNICEF, UNICEF Occupied Palestinian Territory – Education in Emergencies and Post-Crisis Transition 2010 Report (New York: UNICEF, March 2011), 4, 6, 9; Kathleen Kostelny and Michael Wessells, Psychosocial Assessment of Education in Gaza and Recommendations for Response (UNESCO, September 2010), 21-32; and Save the Children, "Children Traumatised One Year after Gaza Offensive," 22 December 2009.

927 UNICEF, "UNICEF concerned over the impact of violence on children in Gaza and Southern Israel," 12 March 2012; "Hamas rockets hit 2 Israeli schools," CBS News report, 19 November 2012.

928 "OPT: Gaza Schoolchildren Lack Basic Equipment," IRIN, 9 September 2009; and "OPT: Gaza Schoolchildren Struggling to Learn," IRIN, 5 February 2010.

929 Al Mezan Center For Human Rights, "Israeli Forces Bomb Schools and Mosque," 3 January 2009; Amira Hass, "Was the Gaza School Bombed by IAF a 'Legitimate Target'?" Haaretz, 26 April 2009; and Peter Kenyon, "Despite Bombing, Gaza School Endures," National Public Radio (NPR), 2 August 2009.

930 HRW, Rain of Fire: Israel's Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza (New York: HRW, March 2009), 45-8; US Department of State, 2009 Country Report on Human Rights Practices – Israel and the Occupied Territories (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 11 March 2010).

931 The blockade by land, sea and air, established by Israel and Egypt after Hamas gained control of Gaza in 2007, was eased for the UN and NGOs to bring in building materials in mid-2009; in 2010, it was eased for consumer materials but not construction materials, which were allowed in from the end of 2012. However, exports to Israel and the West Bank remained banned: see"Israel, Egypt, Ease Gaza Blockades," Wall Street Journal, 30 December 2012.

932 School Safety Partners, "UN: Thousands of Children without School in Israeli-Blockaded Gaza," 22 April 2010; and "OPT: Gaza Schoolchildren Struggling to Learn," IRIN, 5 February 2010.

933 Tovah Lazaroff, Yaakov Lappin and Yaakov Katzt, "Palestinians Blame 'Hilltop Youth' for School Arson," The Jerusalem Post, 21 October 2010; and Nasouh Nazzal, "Colonists Attack School, Write Racist Slogans," The Jerusalem Post, 21 October 2010; UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/65/820-S/2011/250, 23 April 2011, para 126.

934 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/65/820-S/2011/250, 23 April 2011, para 117; Nidal Al-Mughrabi, "Militants attack UN Gaza summer camp," Reuters, 23 May 2010; and "Gaza gunmen 'set fire to UN summer camp for children'," BBC News, 28 June 2010.

935 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/65/820-S/2011/250, 23 April 2011, para 127.

936 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/67/845/2013/245, 15 May 2013, para 117.

937 Information provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013; and information provided by a UN respondent on 19 July 2013.

938 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/66/782 – S/2012/261, 26 April 2012, para 94; and "Settler Gang Burns West Bank Secondary School Prayer Room," Middle East Monitor, 5 May 2011.

939 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/66/782 – S/2012/261, 26 April 2012, para 95; updated by information from a UN respondent 12 December 2013.

940 US Department of State, 2011 Country Report on Human Rights Practices – Israel and the Occupied Territories (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 24 May 2012).

941 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/66/782 – S/2012/261, 26 April 2012, para 95; and information provided by a UN respondent 19 July 2013.

942 Information provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013.

943 Ibid.

944 Ibid.

945 Ibid.

946 Education Cluster Damaged School Database, August 2013.

947 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/67/845 – S/2013/245, 15 May 2013, para 119.

948 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/67/845 – S/2013/245, 15 May 2013, para 120; and information provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013.

949 Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, "Children are suffering from escalation of conflict in Gaza and southern Israel," 16 November 2012; and "Israel Airstrike Hits Al Aqsa, Hamas TV Station, in High-Rise in Downtown Gaza City," Huffington Post, 19 November 2012.

950 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/67/845 – S/2013/245, 15 May 2013, para 118; and updated figure provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013.

951 Information provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013.

952 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/67/845 – S/2013/245, 15 May 2013, para 118.

953 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/67/845 – S/2013/245, 15 May 2013, para 118.

954 Yanir Yagna, "Clashes erupt in Bedouin village as Israel's Interior Ministry distributes demolition orders," Haaretz, 13 November 2012.

955 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/67/845 – S/2013/245, 15 May 2013, para 118.

956 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/66/782 – S/2012/261, 26 April 2012, para 94.

957 OPT Education Cluster, Education Cluster Database: Vulnerable School Matrix (VSM), August 2013; figures reduced by one after being updated by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013.

958 Information supplied by a UN respondent, October 2013.

959 UN OCHA, Humanitarian Monitor – July 2011.

960 Information provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013.

961 Akiva Eldar, "Israeli Military Demolishes Palestinian School to Make Way for Military Base," Live Leak, 14 May 2012.

962 Updated information provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013; HRW, "Israel/Gaza: Protect Civilians From Attack – Hamas Targets School Bus, Israeli Attacks Kill Civilians, Injure Medics," 12 April 2011; "Israeli school bus hit by Gaza missile," The Guardian, 7 April 2011; and "Gaza-Israel Violence Rages, Five Militants Killed," Thomson Reuters, 9 April 2011.

963 Information provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013.

964 HRW, "Israel/Gaza: Protect Civilians from Attack – Hamas Targets School Bus, Israeli Attacks Kill Civilians, Injure Medics," 12 April 2011.

965 Save the Children, "Fact Sheet: Children's Right to Education in Armed Conflict," October 2011; and interviews by Brendan O'Malley, Qartaba primary school, Hebron, May 2012.

966 Majd Qumsieh, "Settlers attack Qurtuba School students studying by road-block," IMEMC, 13 October 2011; "Settlers Attack a Palestinian School in Hebron," Palestinian News Agency, 13 October 2011.

967 MNA, "Settlers Attack School Children in Hebron," Occupied Palestine, 29 December 2011. The first boy was interviewed at the school by Brendan O'Malley, May 2012. He alleged that a soldier held his hands behind his back and urged the settler to hit him.

968 Information provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013.

969 Save the Children, "Fact Sheet: Children's Right to Education in Armed Conflict," October 2011.

970 Ibid.; and "On the Wrong Side of The Wall," IRIN News, 20 April 2011.

971 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/66/782 – S/2012/261, 26 April 2012, para 94; information provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013; and Anshel Pfeffer, "Palestinian teenager arrested over murder of 5 members of Fogel family," Haaretz, 18 April 2011.

972 UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/66/782 – S/2012/261, 26 April 2012, para 94; Information also provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013.

973 Information provided by a UN respondent, 12 December 2013.

974 Saed Bannoura, "Army occupies school in Jenin," IMEMC and other agencies, 13 November 2012.

975 "Tough Times for University Students in Gaza," IRIN, 26 March 2009. At least two of them were hit on 28 December 2008, before the study's reporting period. This included The Islamic University, which the Israeli military said was being used by Hamas to develop and store weapons.

976 Information provided by a UN respondent, citing Education Cluster database on 19 July 2013.

977 "Hamas Police Raid Gaza Campus," University World News, Issue No: 163, 20 March 2011.

978 US Department of State, 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – Israel and the Occupied Territories (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 11 March 2010); "12 anti-war demonstrators arrested," Ynet, 6 January 2009; Ben Lynfield, "Student expelled to Gaza Strip by force," The Independent, 30 October 2009; "Israel Detained Student because of His Graduate Project," The Palestinian Information Centre, 30 January 2012; Associated Press, "Pro-Hamas students holed up on West Bank campus," The Guardian, 23 May 2012; Saed Bannoura, "Soldiers Kidnap Several Palestinians In The West Bank," International Middle East Media Center; Mya Guarnieri, "Israel suppresses Gaza protests in West Bank," +972 Mag, 18 November 2012.

979 "Israel Detained Student because of His Graduate Project," The Palestinian Information Centre, 30 January 2012.

980 PEN International, "Writer and Academic Detained Without Charge," 25 May 2011; and Amnesty International, "Palestinian academic given detention extension must be released," 25 April 2012.

981 "Authority Orders Release of Academics," University World News, Issue No: 135, 15 August 2010; Khaled Abu Toameh, "PA arrests professor who criticized Nablus University," Jerusalem Post, 26 August 2011.

982 "Authority Orders Release of Academics," University World News, Issue No: 135, 15 August 2010.

983 "Travel Restrictions Hit Gaza Students," IRIN, 22 October 2009.

984 Lauren E. Bohn, "US Cancels Scholarship Program for Gaza Students Amid Battle Involving Israel and Hamas," The Right to Education Campaign, 15 October 2012.

985 "Israel orders partial demolition of Palestinian school," Ma'an News, 27 August 2013.

986 Rabbis for Human Rights, "Arson of some 400 olive trees in the West Bank," 9 October 2013.

987 "Settlers pelt Palestinian school buses," Al Akhbar, 30 April 2013.

988 Robert Tait, "Israeli army 'provoked Palestinian teenager and then shot him," The Telegraph (UK), 16 January 2013.

989 Ben Hartman, "Missiles, RPGs found stashed at Arab village school," The Jerusalem Post, 2 May 2013.

990 Phoebe Greenwood, "Hamas teaching Palestinian schoolboys how to plant IEDs, fire Kalashnikov assault rifles," The Telegraph, 28 April 2013; "Hamas to establish military academy to train Palestinian," Press Trust of India, 25 January 2013.