Arabic version: تلاميذ مسافر يطا يواجهون تهديد هدم المدرسة

According to Al Jazeera, Palestinian children in Shaab al-Butum, Masafer Yatta, are preparing for a new school year after Israeli forces demolished two administrative rooms and a storage room at their school on August 4. Farah, 17, Mohammed, 8, and Jawad, 7, attend the village’s only school, which remains under threat of demolition.

The United Nations said Israel cited a lack of Israeli-issued building permits for the demolished structures. Such permits are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain in Area C of the occupied West Bank, which is under Israeli administrative and military control. A court case concerning the rest of Shaab al-Butum school is scheduled for September 15.

Nidal Younis, head of the Masafer Yatta local council, told Al Jazeera that all seven schools in the wider area are threatened with demolition. Masafer Yatta was declared part of a closed Israeli military firing zone in the 1980s, a designation used in repeated attempts to force local Palestinians out. Activist and teacher Tariq Hathaleen said residents and school administrations are not usually told in advance when bulldozers will arrive.

Hathaleen also said settlers stormed Ras Ein al-Auja school in the Jordan Valley during the previous academic year, assaulting staff and students. Figures from the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission show that 84 Palestinian schools serving nearly 13,000 students face Israeli demolition or stop-work orders. Amir Dawoud, a senior official with the commission, said the most immediate legal threats were concentrated in the southern Hebron area, particularly Masafer Yatta, and at al-Walaja school near Bethlehem.