Radicals in Gaza and Israel target educational institutions because educated Palestinians are a threat
The American International School in Gaza was targeted by Israel in their latest assault on Gaza because educated Palestinians will take control of their own destiny.
By Yasmeen El-Khoudary on Monday, January 12th, 2009 - 572 words.
Damage sustained at the AISG after an attack
Once again, Israel’s military force proved to be as radical as the groups it claims her war in Gaza is against. On the eighth day of Israel’s blind attacks on Gaza, two F-16 bombs marked the end of the American International School in Gaza. This institution symbolized a unique eight year history of education in Palestine. The school’s mission statement read:
“The American International School in Gaza (AISG) was established with the guiding principles of academic excellence and outstanding behaviour for national and international students. This will be delivered by caring and highly qualified personnel, utilizing the best educational practices in English and Arabic, which will enable graduates to become productive and responsible participants of society as the leaders of tomorrow. The purpose of the American International School is to provide a progressive education which uses the American curriculum for an international, multicultural student body. Also the American International School in Gaza strives to promote an understanding and appreciation of the world’s diverse cultures.”
During these eight years of providing education to Palestinian students in Gaza, AISG has witnessed numerous attacks on Gaza and on the school itself.
Students from other schools in Gaza used to think that AISG’s students were blessed with an American campus that provided a safe haven from the brutal life under occupation. Yes, the school was described as an oasis, but “an oasis of learning”, not “an oasis of safety.”
During the early years of the Intifada, we used to take weeks and weeks off school, not because of heavy snow or national celebrations, but because we would hear on the news that the school had been attacked by the Israeli forces, or that Beit Lahiya (the area where the school is located) was under attack.
I remember going back to school after weeks of the bombing and seeing the holes in the science lab and in the double-glassed windows. A few days later, after thinking that things were back to normal, two Israeli tanks from a nearby settlement parked at the school’s front gate. They weren’t there to spread love and peace around the “American” school, but to spread fear and threats. I can recall some of the countless times when our sports day, which we had been so anxiously waiting and preparing for, was cancelled, or lunch break was spent in classrooms, because it was too dangerous to step outside during Israeli operations.
Likewise, the school was repeatedly attacked by radicals in Gaza. There was a failed attempt to kill the principal in 2005. In 2006, the principal and the deputy principal were kidnapped by a radical group in Gaza that demanded the release of a militant in Britain in exchange for releasing the principal and his vice. In 2007, militants attacked the schools and burned parts of it, for no apparent reasons.
In the eyes of Gaza’s radicals and Israel’s army, the school was not supposed to be there in the first place. While for the radicals the name “American” was enough to declare the school an enemy zone, the Israelis saw in the school a potential for creating educated Palestinians who would be able to take the lead in the future. For the Israelis, educated Palestinians who are able to defend themselves and their country with their knowledge and their education are certainly far more dangerous than any “peace enemies” whom it claims are Israel’s number one enemy.
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From my limited travel and exposure to the region (I've only ever flown in and out, never lived in the Middle East), my own top three of "educated Arabs" goes thus: Palestinians, Iranians, Lebanese. Not to say that everyone else is a doofus, but among those I've engaged with across all levels, politics to pop culture, Palestinians regularly prove to be the most aware and analytical. Perhaps because education is denied them at the most basic level (ie., access), those living in Gaza, West Bank, East Jerusalem etc hanker after information and eat it up when it comes their way.
Much is said about Palestinian resilience. Part of this resilience stems from devising ingenious means of acquiring and disseminating knowledge. At the height of the second intifada in Nablus, I remember a teacher conducting a small English lesson in an ambulance office surrounded by a handful of children aged between 6-16. I accompanied one of these children to their home where, over a humble dinner, she onpassed her lesson to her parents and siblings. The next day, her father passed it on to his neighbours and friends…. And so on. All of this happening in the midst of a 24hr shoot-on-site curfew.
Discussions over world history, which bands were hot, art history…it's all happened. Sometimes in the pitch black of a power cut, other times in the grandiose dining area of Bethlehem's Jacir Palace hotel. Even the kids who invariably will ask you for money or sweets bombard you with questions, questions, questions. "Where are you from? London? That's in England. You ever been to Paris? What is it like? What is your favourite place in the world? Do you know David Beckham?"
Targetting the heart of learning, the gateway to the rest of the world, is as harrowing as bombing the shit out of an emergency ward. Same goes for targetting mosques, the centres of community activity — a place of worship where people should feel safe. It's to undermine the societal and psychological structure of a place. If people give in and feel nowhere is sacred, then you've beat them.
And you thought your neighbours were bad….
I think this is a very important point. There was and is nothing accidental about these targets. The next generation of Palestinian leaders will be more effective the better educated, the Israelis know this and act accordingly (if your moral compass is medieval, of course)
Hey i guess you think i have big balls to write here as a Jew from Israel but i am obligated as a man before i m a Jew, i have to take responsibility of my side in this so called "operation" that some people call it "war" and i call it what i think it is a massacre, i feel sorry as a human to see my side that i am responsible for him and i know theres not a few People here in Israel that doing what they can with what they see in front of their eyes behind the lies in the israeli media, and do something to stop our government that the only thing in their heads is "poured lead" i'ts important to remember that this is our leaders war and that we can change it theres no wining side, the only way twe can win is to stop our leaders to lead us to war.
do you have any exmplae of such "lies" in themedia Uri? because I haven't noticed any really – what I saw today on CH 10 was a palestinian doctor calling the studio after a tank shell killed 5 of his daughters when they were in their house. absolutely horrific. You think they're "not telling us" that palestinians are suffering?
Do you have any other solutions, solutions that will stop missiles from falling? We'd be glad to hear them.
so the only solution ismurdering little girls? is that really going to provide a solution?
No one wants to "murder little girls" – Israel cannot exist with 1 million citizens running in and out of bomb shelters 5-10 times a day. I'm sure you wouldn't want to either, and you would be able to understand the economic political and social impact of that reality, if you bothered to think about it. Attempts were made to avoid the war in Gaza, and they failed. This war won't be a solution – no one says so – but it will bring a period of calm (hopefully) – and might allow for the platform for a solution to emerge. All your theories of "more hatred, another generation of such and such" are completley irrelevant – the hatred has always been there, and it depends on the political leadership whether the actions that are taken are towards peace or not.
Yasmeen – let me tell you that the one thing Israelis want to see more than anything else is educated Palestinians who can stand up to terrorists, which you call "militants", and bring a sane and realistic leadership to the Palestinian people. I don't know where you get these theories about "peace enemies". Israel and Israelis are not interested in the land, or in controlling the Palestinians or anything like that.
I'm afraid I'll have to disagree, Omri. If Israel really wants to see moderate and educated Palestinians be in power, then please tell me why Israel's government has done absoluetly NOTHING to support Abbas's moderate government, whose officials are all Western-educated intellectuals? I'm not a supporter of Hamas or Fateh. I understand why Israel and the US are not supporting Hamas, but when they say that they need moderate Palestinians to talk to, why are they ignoring Abbas? In the eyes of the Palestinian people, Abbas has promised one thing: peace and a country. Obviously, he's not delievering in either. He is the moderate, educated Palestinian. Why is Israel doing nothing to show the Palestinian people that they should be moderate and support their moderate president, and that the moderate gets rewarded?
I think your assessment of Mr. Abbas' performance is a little too negative. Both Israel and the US have transferred huge amounts of money and equipment to his people, militarily and otherwise. The EU has also sent considerable aid in police training and civilian government. Israel has released hundreds of prisoners as a good will gesture to him, to show that he can achieve the release of prisoners through negotiations that Hamas cannot achieve through violence. From what I've read in the media, there is a substantial peace deal for a two state solution already prepared.
The main problem on the Palestinian side is that Abbas is pretty much in a minority. Even within his own Fatah, with factions like Al-Aqsa Martyrs, Tanzim and others unwilling to recognize Israel. Apart from that. the democratic support of palestinians was given to Hamas, that has taken over Gaza, and that is making a deal impossible.
On the Israeli side there are also significant problems: There is a serious mistrust of any Palestinian leadership among the Israeli public, given that Oslo lead to a resurgence of terrorism, as did the pullout from Lebanon and Gaza. Dismantlement of settlements requires huge efforts and huge political sacrifice, for a few reasons: a) The public is opposed to it as long as there are no security guarantees b) The settler lobby is very powerful in peaceful demonstrations and violent rioting c) there is a real threat that if a significant pullout was made without overwhelming approval (like in a referendum) very extreme elements of the relgious settlers could begin to use violence against IDF soldiers, and also open a terror campaign against Palestinian civilians, and that could drag the whole region into a war.
Either way, a Palestinian state is unthinkable to Mr. Abbas without Gaza as part of it, and a pullout form the west bank is unthinkable to the Israeli public so long as missiles fall from Gaza, and could fall from the West Bank too.
We see him as a puppet, no more no less, who's Israel and the US's best friend. After Annapolis, during which we were promised a state, all we got was the siege, the wall, and more settlements and checkpoint. Who would support Abbas after seeing that he's being treated like a moderate puppet who has no say in his people's affairs? No, I don't think that Israel is in favour of educated Palestinians. That should not let us down, however, because we do things for Palestine's sake only, and to please anyone. Monstris's comment is excellent; I'm not bragging, but I do believe that Palestinians are among the most educated people in the ME, and it makes me even more proud of being Palestinian.
You say "how they have treated him.." but all this time he has not really been in control, but in a civil war with Hamas… don't you think that is worth mentioning?
About settlement building: I believe this should stop and should never have started, however – stopping them is politically difficult because of Israel's coalition government system, and also because they are a massive real-estate market ie lots of money. As far as I know settlement building has been brought down to what the Israeli government calls "natural population growth rate" as vague as that is, which I think means building more flats in the main settlement blocks in Ariel and around Jerusalem, but not expanding any to knew land. Barak, since he became defense minister has cracked down quite heavily on illegal settlement posts, and crimes by settlers against Palestinians – personally I think that's a good thing.
Hi Yasmeen,
I'll pick up from your last comment.
If ou see Abbas "as a puppet, no more no less", then who are leaders with whom to make peace? Who controls anything in "Palestine"?
I'm sorry, but I'm temtped to preempt a potential answer.
Hamas?
http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm
In 2006, the Palestinian people, of their own free will, voted for a political party with an ideology that makes German national Socialism look like wimpy liberalism. The Hamas declared in unmistakeable terms that it is both their ideology and unalterable religious vocation to wipe the Jews off the face of the earth, that they would not accept any peace process, and that they claim all of Palestine from the river to the sea as a holy waqf given by Allah to the Muslim people. They make no secret of their ideology.
In June of of 2007, Hamas staged a coup against the legitimate PA government. They expelled the EU monitors from the Rafah terminal. Therefore the terminal was closed. The issue at stake is that Israel wishes to prevent the Hamas from acquiring weapons which will further their ambition. This is called by propagandists, the siege of Gaza. When Hamas fired on the Israeli fuel depot and Israeli humanitarian aid terminals, these were closed as well.
For some reason, addleheaded people took into their heads that Israel has an obligation to provide Hamas with the wherewithal to carry out its genocidal program.
You know very well that Hamas embedded themselves in civilian population so that it was impossible to stop the firing of rockets without firing on them. It is incomprehensible that sane people who think they are "progressives" for "peace" support the vile islamist ideology of Hamas and spread false rumors that Hamas wants peace and that what they want is reasonable.
It takes extraordinary intellectual acrobatics to believe that Hamas should not be wiped out or that Israel owes them anything.
[Quoted from mail I recieved from Ami Isserroff]
So who does Israel sit with to make peace, not a suicidal peace that sees Israel obliterated?
Laurence