As a consequence of the apartheid policies imposed by the Israeli occupation, Palestinians living in Area C suffer from a severe lack of public services. Bedouin families in the Jordan Valley are rendered particularly vulnerable by this situation where they experience violations of their human rights to water, education and housing on a daily basis. The right to education of children is particularly under threat as the closed military area policy imposed by Israel forbids Palestinians from building much-needed education facilities. As a result, children must endure long journeys to reach schools in other villages, while the youngest children are at the charge of their parents who do not benefit from kindergartens.

Jordan Valley Solidarity, within its Schools project that aims to support the creation of schools where communities need it the most, has undertaken the construction of educational facilities for the 60 children of Mak-hul, Al Hadidiya and Samra, three Bedouin communities where this service is direly needed. However, all the structures present in these communities, including the educational facilities created by Jordan Valley Solidarity, are still at risk of demolition by Israeli occupation forces.

Context: Jordan Valley Bedouin communities under occupation

Located in the North of the Jordan Valley, Mak-hul, Samra and Al Hadidiya are three Palestinian communities that gather 26 families in total. About 210 people live in this area for the whole year. The families rely on herding to meet their basic needs.

The daily life in these communities is placed under dire constraints by Israeli apartheid policies and practices:

  • Deny of the right to water: As the majority of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, these communities are not allowed to be connected to any water grid, nor to dig, restore or use any water wells or rainwater collection pools. In consequence, families have to buy expensive water tanks from Area A to cover their drinking and herding needs.
  • Risk of home demolitions and confiscations: Mak-hul, Al Hadidiya and Samra families are constantly under the risk of home demolition, herding and educational structures destruction and material confiscation by the Israeli occupation forces. Indeed, the army regularly comes to these communities to practice apartheid policies aiming to forcibly displace people from their land.
  • Deny of the possibility to build new structures: Israel has declared most of the Jordan Valley as closed military areas in order to prevent communities who live there from building critically needed structures. Families are not allowed to build anything on their own land. Over 38 communities in the area are prohibited from construction, including the erection of schools and kindergartens.
  • Deny of the freedom of movement: Mak-hul and Al Hadidiya are surrounded by an Israeli military base and illegal colonies, which are threatening the shepherds while they are taking their livestock to the surrounding hills.

Map: Extract from OCHA © West Bank Access Restrictions – June 2020

The lives of the children of Mak-hul, Al Hadidiya and Samra are deeply affected by this situation imposed by the Israeli occupation, especially their right to education and their ability to study in decent conditions.

Mak-hul, Samra and Al Hadidiya children should enjoy their right to education

Impediments and constraints on the road to far away schools

About 60 children live in Mak-hul, Samra and Al Hadidiya. As there is no school in these three communities, the ones who are above seven years old have to go every day to Ein El Beida or Tayasir villages to study. These schools are respectively 15 and 25 kilometers away from their homes. Moreover, the students who go to Tayasir have to cross a military checkpoint every day. Children have to wake up at 4 am, walk from one to four kilometers to reach the paved road and wait for a bus that passes only one time in the day. This transportation takes one hour to collect all the children from the areas nearby and bring them to Ein El Beida and Tayasir. A few kilometers away, the Israeli colonies of Hemdat and Roi are provided with an effective public transportation service which Palestinians are forbidden to use. Most colonies have Jewish-only schools where Palestinian children are not welcome.

The way to school is particularly harsh in the summer and the winter. The lack of educational facilities and proper public transportation for Palestinians prevents these children from correctly enjoying their right to education, as the long and exhausting journey to school doesn’t give them the chance to study properly. In these conditions, the great majority of them could never have the chance to access higher education. Indeed, children in the Jordan Valley leave school at a younger age than their peers in the rest of the West Bank.

Mak-Hul, Al Hadidiya and Samra dire need for a kindergarten

Moreover, these communities are also deprived of having a kindergarten while it is critically needed to provide safety and care for the youngest children. “We don’t have any kind of service: no education, no water. Even our house is not safe enough to protect our children from everything around. From animals, from soldiers, from settlers”, explains Reema, a mother of four living in Mak-hul community. “A kindergarten would also help me personally, as I could have a rest from taking care of my kids or devote time to something else, while my children would be safe.”

In 2010, Jordan Valley Solidarity succeeded in opening a kindergarten in Mak-hul, that was providing six children from Mak-hul and Al Hadidiya with safe space and education. However, in 2012, Israeli occupation forces destroyed the educational facility, as part of the Israeli apartheid policy aiming to forcibly displace communities by depriving them of any kind of public services. About 12 children in Mak-hul, Samra and Al Hadidiya are now under the age of seven and are deeply in need of this kindergarten. Indeed, while parents face dire constraints to survive and work all day with their livestock to feed the family, youngest children are severely lacking a safe environment with constant supervision, a recreational area as well as early education.

Jordan Valley Solidarity Schools project in Mak-hul

Jordan Valley Solidarity has a great experience in strengthening the right to education of children from the valley. Indeed, since the beginning of the campaign, we have managed to open and support seven schools and six kindergartens, thus strengthening the right to education of hundreds of children. Apart from the construction and protection of educational facilities, Jordan Valley Solidarity has also managed to have the new schools recognized by the Palestinian Ministry of Education that hires the teachers. However, as illustrated by the case of the Mak-hul kindergarten that has been destroyed in 2012, these critically needed educational spaces are constantly under the threat of being demolished and dismantled by the Israeli occupation forces.

Since the end of the year 2021, Jordan Valley Solidarity has undertaken the reconstruction of a new kindergarten in Mak-hul community to serve the needs of all the children in the area. Indeed, as Al Hadidiya and Samra children can reach Mak-hul by a 10 minutes walk, they will easily join the kindergarten.

With the support of Miki organization, we have erected concrete walls covered by a roof, installed adequate floor covering and provided the place with educational furniture. Most importantly, a woman from a nearby community will be hired and paid by the campaign to come several days per week to Mak-hul to provide children with adequate supervision and quality education.

The kindergarten is due to open in May 2022, providing 12 young children with the proper education and care that are crucially needed in a context where children experience home demolitions, harassment by the settlers and army as well as a lack of critical resources such as water and electricity.

Jordan Valley Solidarity has now strengthened its ability to protect education facilities to avoid the new kindergarten to face demolition from the Israeli occupation forces, as this occurred in 2012. Indeed, our campaign now receives support from legal experts that are working to counter demolition orders in Israeli courts. Moreover, through outreach campaigns towards international authorities and organizations, we hope that we will be able to have relevant actors on our side that would protect and support the right to education of the children of the Jordan Valley through advocacy toward Israeli occupation authorities so they would not destroy this kindergarten.

However, more is needed for the children of Mak-hul, Al Hadidiya and Samra communities. As Reema highlighted, “It is so important, not just to have a kindergarten, but also a school here.” Therefore, Jordan Valley Solidarity has decided to further its Schools project there through the creation of a primary school in Mak-hul for the children of the three communities. Therefore, these 60 children will not be compelled to undertake a long and difficult journey to be able to enjoy their right to education. As Reema emphasized, “My children have a dream: to play and study”.