Israel demolishes makeshift classroom in Jordan Valley

By Qais Abu Samra

JORDAN VALLEY, West Bank

An Israeli military force on Thursday tore down a tent that was being used as a classroom for Palestinian students in the Jordan Valley region of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian official.

“Israeli officials attempted to justify the move by saying the tent was erected without a license,” Mutaz Bisharat, a Palestinian Authority (PA) official responsible for tracking Israeli settlement activity in the region, told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

The Israeli army, Bisharat said, had torn down the makeshift classroom and prevented teachers and students from reaching the site.

Last month, Israeli forces -- using the same excuse -- dismantled a number of makeshift classrooms set up for Palestinian students in the same area.

Early this year, the Palestinian Education Ministry set up the classroom in Ibziq village with a view to providing local Bedouin communities with basic education.

Under the 1993 Oslo agreement between Israel and the PA, the occupied West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C.

Area A falls under the PA’s administrative and security control; Area B falls under the PA’s administrative control and Israel’s security control; and Area C -- which includes the Jordan Valley region -- falls under the exclusive administrative and security control of Israel.

Area C is home to some 300,000 Palestinians, many of whom are part of Bedouin communities that continue to follow a nomadic lifestyle.