Palestinian Children Head Back to Class as Israeli Demolition Threat Looms Over School

Farah, Mohammed, and Jawad are preparing to start the new academic year in the village of Masafer Yatta, located in the southern occupied West Bank.

The children, aged 17, 8, and 7, attend Shaab al-Butum school. When they arrive, they will find that two administrative rooms and a storage room are missing, as Israeli forces demolished those structures on August 4.

The United Nations reports that Israel cited the absence of Israeli-issued building permits as the reason for the demolitions. In Area C of the occupied West Bank, which falls under Israeli administrative and military control, obtaining such permits is virtually impossible for Palestinians.

The remainder of the school is not safe either. It, too, faces a demolition order, with a court hearing scheduled for September 15.

The children’s education is now uncertain, as they worry about losing the village’s only school entirely and facing further confrontations with Israeli forces.

Constant fear

The beginning of the academic year in early September is typically a time of excitement and learning. However, in Shaab al-Butum, that enthusiasm is now mixed with deep anxiety.

Farah told Al Jazeera that Shaab al-Butum was the only school she had ever attended, and she expressed fear about what might happen next.

Mohammed shared that fear, saying he was worried Israeli forces would “return to demolish what remains” of the school. Jawad spoke of his sadness at seeing the damaged building and expressed hope that it could “return as it was”.

For Nidal Younis, the head of the Masafer Yatta local council, these concerns reflect a much broader threat to education throughout the region. Schools in the area have repeatedly been targeted by Israeli authorities and settlers over the years. Masafer Yatta was designated part of a closed Israeli military firing zone in the 1980s, a classification that has since been used to justify repeated efforts to displace local Palestinian residents.

“It is a test renewed with every school year, amidst unprecedented escalation by the occupation authorities,” Younis told Al Jazeera.

“This year comes amid the tightening of the occupation’s policy of demolishing schools, and rampant settler violence that targets everything in these villages,” he added.

Younis said that this violence follows children throughout their daily lives, targeting “students going to their schools, students while in class, and even inside the home”.

According to Younis, all seven schools across the wider Masafer Yatta area are now under threat of demolition.

“We do not know whether these schools will survive to the end of this academic year, let alone still be standing when the next one begins,” he said, emphasizing the determination of local Palestinians to remain “despite the pain and [Israeli] barbarism”.

Settler violence

Tariq Hathaleen, an activist and teacher, said the uncertainty surrounding demolition orders, combined with the continued expansion of settlement outposts, has deepened the sense of insecurity among residents.

“The occupation authorities do not usually tell the residents or the school administration in advance when the bulldozers will arrive,” Hathaleen told Al Jazeera.

Hathaleen added that during the previous academic year, settlers stormed Ras Ein al-Auja school in the Jordan Valley, assaulting both staff and students.

He said that the attack, along with ongoing demolitions, confirmed that schools are “no longer immune from attack”.

“[Israel’s actions] do not target merely one aspect, but affects education, housing, freedom of movement and livelihoods,” Hathaleen explained.

Hathaleen described the targeted schools, which were built by the Palestinian Ministry of Education to serve marginalized communities, as “more than just educational buildings”.

Systematic pattern

Data from the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission highlights the scale of the threat, showing that 84 Palestinian schools serving nearly 13,000 students are currently facing Israeli demolition or stop-work orders.

Amir Dawoud, a senior official with the commission, said that the schools facing the most immediate legal threats are concentrated in the southern Hebron area, particularly Masafer Yatta, as well as at al-Walaja school near Bethlehem, which Israel claims lacks the required building permit.

“These are not schools that can simply be closed and their students easily transferred elsewhere,” Dawoud told Al Jazeera.

He explained that the impact of demolition orders begins long before any building is actually destroyed, creating ongoing uncertainty and disruption for students, teachers, and their families.

“The psychological and educational impact begins before the bulldozer arrives,” he said.

“It is a systematic pattern that transcends individual cases,” Dawoud added, noting that it begins with planning restrictions, accompanied by road limitations and settler attacks.

“It does not only threaten school buildings,” he said. “It targets the ability of Palestinian communities to survive.”

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