Amman, September 8 (Petra) – Secretary-General of the Amman-based Royal Commission for Jerusalem Affairs (RCJA), Abdullah Tawfiq Kanaan, stated September 9th marks the International Day to Protect Education from Attack, established by a 2020 UN General Assembly resolution.
In a statement to "Petra", he said the ongoing Israeli aggression against Gaza and all Palestine proves the Israeli occupation's crime against humanity and education.
He added that this policy is part of its brutal Zionist attempts and plans to wipe out the Palestinian people and erase their identity, culture, and presence on their historic land of Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital.
Based on statistics issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, he said Israel completely destroyed 179 government schools and approximately 105 UNRWA schools during its aggression against Gaza.
Furthermore, he noted that all educational institutions schools, universities, and cultural centers were rendered inoperable after being subjected to deliberate bombing and sabotage.
He added that tens of thousands of students and teachers were killed, alongside thousands others who were wounded, imprisoned, and missing.
In the West Bank, he noted that Israel's policy of arresting students and teachers in schools and universities is evident, as these institutions suffer daily raids, closures, and sometimes demolition.
He added that the process to Judaize education, distort Palestinian curriculum, and attempts to impose the Israeli textbooks pose an "existential" threat to the identity of education in Palestine, affecting more than 850,000 students in the West Bank, including 120,000 students in Jerusalem.
The committee, he said, believes Israel's ongoing apartheid policies against education in occupied Palestine pose a threat to the legitimacy of international organizations, such as UNRWA, UNESCO, and other organizations concerned with protecting education and culture, whose centers in Gaza and Jerusalem have been evacuated and destroyed by Israel.
Israel's distribution today of approximately 14 demolition notices for schools in Hebron, its denial of permits for private schools in Jerusalem and its daily practices of restricting education shows severity and magnitude of Israeli practices against education in Palestine, he pointed out.
He added this situation also reflects absence of international legitimacy and its humanitarian duty towards the future of hundreds of thousands of children and youth.
As for its role, Kanaan said Jordan will remain the historical custodian of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and a steadfast supporter of people in Palestine and Jerusalem.
He stated this effort aims to safeguard these people's right to education through the Jordanian Waqf schools in Jerusalem, citing Jordan's tireless efforts in UNESCO, UNRWA, and other international organizations in this context.
//Petra// AG
