For the third day in a row, the Israeli occupation forces and settlers closed, on Wednesday, the entrance to the Palestinian village of “Al Labban”, in the northern West Bank, impeding the movement of residents and the access of hundreds of employees and students to their schools.
The head of the local council of al-Lubban al-Sharqiya village, south of Nablus, Yaqoub Owais, said that a number of settlers and Israeli soldiers arrived at the entrance to the village with their vehicles, and obstructed the movement of the residents.
He added that the army and settlers stormed the entrance to the village, while the students were heading to their schools.
He said that the storming takes place under the pretext of holding Jewish religious prayers in the public street, but “the main goal is to close these schools and control them and prevent the educational process.”
Owais continued, “In the face of this ongoing terrorism against the eastern village of Al-Lubban, we have decided that steadfastness and resistance is the solution.”
He pointed out that the parents succeeded in getting the students into schools “despite the occupation, despite their presence on the street, and despite the presence of settlers.”
The entrance to the village witnessed friction and skirmishes between activists and the occupation soldiers, but no injuries were reported, according to eyewitnesses who spoke to Anadolu Agency.
On Tuesday, Owais said that the measures taken by the occupation and its settlers had caused the educational process to be disrupted for 40 days for about 700 male and female students during the current academic year (2021/2022).
Before that, on Monday, three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli metal bullets, and dozens suffocated, Monday, for the same reason, as the residents demonstrated against the settlers’ closure of the entrance to the town, and the army intervened to disperse the residents.
According to Owais, the students have been living since the beginning of the school year with “violent and continuous attacks carried out by the Israeli army and armed settlers on the Al-Lubban Al Sharqiah Secondary Schools for Girls and Al-Sawiya/Al-Lubban.”
The two schools are located along a vital common street, used by settlers and Palestinians, and there the students of the two schools became a target for settlers and the Israeli army alike, “with the aim of closing the school,” according to Owais.
Data from the Israeli human rights movement, Peace Now, indicate that there are about 666,000 settlers, 145 large settlements and 140 random outposts (not licensed by the Israeli government) in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Shortlink for this post: https://daysofpalestine.ps/?p=15857
