UNISON has signed a joint letter opposing the planned demolition of a Palestinian school in the West Bank.
Alongside other education unions including UCU, NEU, EIS and NASUWT, UNISON has urged the Israeli government to call a halt to the demolition of Jubbet ad Dib school, a small primary school southeast of Bethlehem. The school is built on private land, donated by the local community.
This is the second time the school will be demolished. In August 2017, Israeli soldiers demolished the school on the day before the school year was due to start. Since then, the school has repeatedly sought permission from the Israeli authorities to remain there.
On 6 March 2023, the Israeli Central Court rejected a petition filed by Palestinian community groups against the demolition.
The letter from the unions reads: “We urge the Israeli government immediately to call a halt to demolition of Jubbet ad Dib, along with other planned demolitions of schools in the West Bank.
“As education trade unions who are committed to the realisation of rights under the Universal Declaration and the UN convention on the Rights of the Child, and whose members dedicate their professional lives to children and young people’s education, this is a situation that we are profoundly concerned about, that we understand to be completely beyond the law, and that we call upon the Israeli authorities to bring to an immediate end.
“Such violations of Palestinian rights and international law are inextricably linked to the occupation of the Palestinian territories, which Israel must bring to an end.”
A full version of the letter can be read here.
UNISON head of international relations Nick Crook said: “The right to education is a human right recognised under United Nations Conventions signed by Israel.
“Despite that, Israel has consistently sought to deny that right to the Palestinian children of Jubbet ad Dib, a village in the occupied West Bank. UNISON is appalled that the Israeli authorities are seeking yet again to demolish school buildings that were built in 2017 after Israel ordered the destruction of the previous school.”
