*Report: The Dangerous Road to Education - Palestinian Students Suffer
Under Settler Violence and Military Negligence*


31st December 2010

Operation Dove (Nonviolent Peace Corps of Association “Comunità Papa
Giovanni XXIII”) and Christian Peacemaker Teams announce the publication
of the *2009-2010 report* on the Israeli military escort to the
Palestinian schoolchildren from the villages of Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed.

An average of 18 Palestinian children from the villages of Tuba and
Maghayir al Abeed attend school in the neighbouring village of
At-Tuwani. To reach school, the children typically use the primary road
that connects their villages with At-Tuwani and passes between the
Israeli settlement of Ma’on and the Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on (Hill
833).

Since 2001, Israeli settlers from Havat Ma'on have routinely attacked
the children on their journey to and from school, but it was not until
November 2004 that Israeli authorities established a daily military
escort. Despite the Israeli military escort, *the children have been
victims of violence 104 times between November 2004 and June 2010*.

The soldiers carrying out the escort have at times failed to protect the
children and have frequently arrived late, causing the children to wait,
sometimes for hours, before and after school.

During the 2009-2010 school year, *children missed almost 27 hours of
school and waited 53 hours for military escort after schoo*l.

In addition, *the soldiers regularly failed to provide a complete escort
of the children*, almost always leaving the children to walk unescorted
beside settlement buildings, in an area where settlers have attacked them.

Despite the children's right to access education, *the military fails to
provide a consistent escort for the children*. When the military doesn't
arrive, the schoolchildren are then forced to take alternative routes
which take up to two hours by foot through a rocky, hilly landscape.
Furthermore, *settlers attack the children and their relatives* on these
longer paths.

Members of Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have had a
continuous presence in the village of At-Tuwani since 2004 and daily
monitor the military escort of the schoolchildren.

The report *“The Dangerous Road to Education. Palestinian Students
Suffer Under Settler Violence and Military Negligence”* is available as
a PDF file attachment.
*
*<http://www.cpt.org/>

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