On February 4, 2018, Israel demolished the only primary school in the Bedouin and refugee community of Abu Nawar, in East Jerusalem, on the grounds that it lacked Israeli-issued building permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain. The school served around 20 Palestinian boys and girls, some of whom are pictured here, as they attend a class on the ruins of the school in the aftermath of the demolition. The demolished classrooms had been built only one year earlier with funding from the European Union and the Palestinian Authority.
The community lies between the Israeli settlement of Ma‘ale Adumim, to the north, and Kedumim, to the southeast, with the area of the E1 Development Plan. This plan calls for connecting the Jewish-only settlement of Ma‘ale Adumim to East Jerusalem, in an area where 23 Palestinian Bedouin villages are situated.1
At the time, the community patriarch, Abed Freya, told the media, “They even took the desks and chairs inside. They took everything except the concrete floor,” Freya said. “To be honest, I’m sure that our school is being set up right now at some Israeli settler outpost—chairs and all—I wouldn’t be surprised.”2
“Israeli authorities have been getting away for years with demolishing primary schools and preschools in Palestinian communities,” said Bill Van Esveld, senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Israeli military’s refusal to issue building permits and then knocking down schools without permits is discriminatory and violates children’s right to education.”3