Israeli forces assaulted a number of Palestinian students at a school in Burin village, to the north of Nablus, Monday, causing many cases of suffocation, according to an Israeli activist.Mr. Zakaria Sada from Rabbis for Human Rights, an Israeli organization dedicated to human rights across the region, told WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency that Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades, inside the school yards, towards students lining up for class, under the pretext that the students threw stones at Israeli soldiers.
The attack spread terror among students, many of whom suffocated due to prolonged exposure to tear gas.
The Israeli army has previously carried out numerous attacks, with the deliberate and reckless use of force, against schools and educational facilities across the occupied West Bank, in a serious violation of international law and students’ right to pursue education in a safe environment.
WAFA notes that, according to the Global Coalition to protect Education from Attack:
“During situations of armed conflict, attacks on education may violate international humanitarian and criminal law and constitute war crimes (or crimes against humanity during war or peacetime) as set out in the 1907 Hague Regulations, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and customary international humanitarian law.”
Additionally, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF has stated:
“International law and human rights instruments are clear, not only about the sanctity of education but also the protection of children affected by conflict…
“The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child applies to all children without discrimination (article 2). It reaffirms the right of every child to life (article 6), insists on the protection of all children from all forms of violence (article 19) and makes clear the right to education (article 28).”
During this past summer’s aggression on the Gaza Strip, Israel bombarded several UNRWA-run schools, which Human Rights Watch, along with worldwide condemnation, slammed as “a war crime.”
See 12/03/14 Law, not Bombs and Band-Aid – Dr. Mads Gilbert on Palestine
12/13/14 Child House Arrests Rise in Jerusalem Clampdown
