Palestinian boys were released as part of an exchange deal, but Israel deprived them of their school seats
The boy, Muhammad Al-Salaymeh, thought that his release from Israeli prisons as part of the deal that Israel concluded with the Hamas movement would be the end of his crisis, but he was shocked by the decision of the Israeli Ministry of Education to prevent the released prisoners from returning to school.
Al-Salaymeh (16 years old) says – while standing in front of the door of his school in the Ras Al-Amoud neighborhood in East Jerusalem – “One of my dreams is to return and open this door.”
On November 24, Israel and Hamas concluded a seven-day truce agreement, during which Israel released 240 prisoners, including 77 from East Jerusalem, which it has occupied since 1967.
In return, Hamas released 105 detainees it had taken during its surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed about 1,140 people, according to the Israeli authorities.
According to the latest toll published by the Ministry of Health of the movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, the Israeli bombing killed 18,800 people, about 70 percent of whom were women and children.
Muhammad was arrested alongside his cousins Moataz and the two brothers Ahmed and Ayham, last May, on charges of throwing stones at a nearby settlement in the Ras al-Amoud neighborhood where they live.
They were released on the same day on condition of house arrest before the court decided that Muhammad, Ahmed and Moataz should return to prison until trial.
As for Ayham (13 years old), he is under house arrest.
The three spent about four months in Damoun Prison (North) before they were included in the exchange deal.
Ahmed, who is the youngest prisoner released as part of the deal, says, “Where will I go? There is no place. I will stay at home… I cannot work.” “I am under 18 years old.”
As for Moataz (15 years old), he says, “I fear that I will lose my education. If the situation remains as it is, I will have to repeat the school year.”
But it seems more severe for Muhammad, who is supposed to graduate from high school next year.
He told Agence France-Presse, “God knows when we will return. I want to achieve what is within myself. I do not want to remain sitting. I want to have my own work.”
Palestinian boys released as part of the exchange deal (AFP)
The decision of the Israeli Ministry of Education, which is responsible for public schools in East Jerusalem, includes about 48 students who were released, most of whom attend public schools, while the rest receive their education either in schools affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, of which there are few, or in private ones.
The Israeli Ministry of Education confirms that the decision, of which none of the parents received a copy, was issued “specifically by Minister Yoav Kisch.”
She added, “The released students will not study in the education system until the end of the winter vacation on January 10, 2024.”
According to the ministry, “their status will be determined after the vacation, there will be an individual evaluation of the necessary adjustments for the students, and the issue will be examined in a professional and comprehensive manner.”
The Jerusalem Municipality’s response was consistent with the ministry’s response, as it said that it was implementing the latter’s “decisions.”
According to the response, the two bodies will work to “evaluate and examine the educational standards and needs of each student and build individual educational programs aimed at preventing the recurrence of illegal acts in the future.”
The municipality summoned Nayef Al-Salaymeh, Ahmed’s father, who wants to become a lawyer in the future, for a consultative session.
Naif says that the municipality “suggested that they be transferred to schools and other institutions according to vague criteria.” He confirms: “While he was with the three students, we refused the transfer, because one of them grew up in this school in the neighborhood and was accustomed to it. He knows everyone and everyone knows him.”
The father, who was wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh, believes that “if this decision becomes effective… we will see young people displaced in the streets who have no future, destroying their ideas and ambitions to become a backward people.”
He added, pointing to the concerted efforts of several parties to solve this problem: “We will fight to get our children back to their school seats.”
Since they were refused re-accommodation in schools, the boys spend their time sleeping, watching TV, and on mobile phone applications, as if they were “locked in the house,” according to Muhammad.
Unlike Al-Salaymeh, Amin Al-Abbasi (17 years old), who was freed as part of the deal, was forced to choose to move to a school affiliated with the Palestinian Authority.
The young man with a light beard, who decided “not to lose the year,” says that he is afraid of “adapting quickly to the new school,” and you see him trying to convince his released peers to move with him.
His mother, Abeer, says, “Amin enrolled us in a school affiliated with the Palestinian Authority in Sur Baher (south), but it is far from public transportation.”
The mother is worried about her son, especially since after his liberation he did not obtain his identity card and remained detained by the Israeli police, which limits his freedom of movement.
Al-Abbasi was serving a 20-month prison sentence on charges of participating in confrontations that took place in the village of Silwan, where he comes from. He served 13 months of the sentence before he was released.
Lawyer Khaled Zabarqa says that Minister Kisch’s decision “contraries the law in general and the compulsory education law in Israel.”
It confirms “arbitrariness and oppression,” as a large number of those included in the decision “have not been proven to have violated the law, and there is no court decision regarding them.”
He added, “Education as a human right is not subject to political considerations.”
Tal Hasan of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel Zabarqa agreed with his proposal, describing the Minister of Education’s decision as a “misfortune.”
Hsin expresses her surprise at the punishment of students who “have not been convicted, they are only suspects.”
The association is waiting for the end of the winter holiday for schools in Israel to see what will happen with those students, and to determine the legal path through which it can intervene.
Until then, Muhammad remains clinging to the hope of returning to school and says, “My education is my only weapon.”
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2023-12-17 00:20:53
