The Palestinian school under siege
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What does a typical school day look like at Al‑Makir Boys School?
This is The Guardian.
Today, a new school year begins in the West Bank.
Hello? Hello? Hello?
It's the beginning of a school day at the Al Makir Boys School in the West Bank. Good morning, how are you? Good morning. And we're speaking via a really bad internet connection to Waheed Abu Naim, the school's English teacher.
Good morning, boys.
In the background, we can hear him greeting his students. How are you today?
Good.
And then, when the signal briefly improves, Wahid turns on his video. And suddenly I'm looking at a classroom full of boys in smart blue uniforms, their hair freshly combed, sitting at desks, smiling and waving.
Wahid's
English lesson starts with a question.
Who's your friend? What's his name? Ratib? That's good.
I watch the boys shyly point to their favourite classmates, explaining in broken English what they really like about each other. Before long, Wahid moves on to their dreams for the future.
Doctor.
Doctor. Do you want to be it?
And
it's
clear that Waheed loves his job. Although
we don't get lots of money, I don't care for these things because my students, especially in the morning, used to wait for me in the morning when I entered the school to shake hands. while going inside their classes. So it's a happy life inside the school.
Outside the school is very different. That's why Waheed has spent his summer strengthening and raising the walls that protect the school and its 470 children. I
have prepared since weeks a hard fence around the school, surrounded all the school. We were fixing all the gates.
Because outside there are men with guns, Israeli settlers and armed soldiers. And the school is in their sights.
Because we think that in a day, in next weeks or next month, may the military plan bring settlers around the school. We think that because they are coming closer and closer to the village every week.
Wahid's school is now on the front line between the villagers, the settlers who want all of their land, and the Israeli military who are backing them up. And the children here have already paid the price. Five will never return to the school.
How has the school’s fence and walls been reinforced against settler attacks?
Can Wahid keep the school open and his students safe? From The Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly. Today on Focus, the school under siege.
The school is in the village of Almaguer in the beautiful rolling hills of the Jordan Valley. It's located about 30 kilometres northwest of Ramallah. Many people who live here have been here their whole lives.
We had peace life. Most of people in our village used to keep sheep. We have lots of crops around the village. All of the mountains around the village are planted with olive trees. We used to go to the mountains to take all our families to stay for day and night to enjoy.
Not anymore.
Our situation at the village here is different than other villages. Here, Al-Mughayyir village, it is the last village at the east side of Ramallah region. There are no villages to pass after our village. It is the last one and it is surrounded by settlers.
This village of around 4,000 people has become completely encircled by a ring of illegal settler outposts. There are now 10 or 11 of them. And it means that the villages of Al-Mukhir have been cut off from the land where they have historically lived, farmed and kept their sheep. The Israeli state has also designated a lot of the land around the village as a military firing zone, which means it's off-limits to locals, although settlers can be seen grazing their sheep here. Waheed says that their community has been under attack for years now, but recently these attacks have become much more frequent and violent.
Nowadays, settlers enter gardens of our houses, don't listen to the people who tell them to go out of their houses. They don't listen to them until the owner of the house comes to face the settler. Military soldiers come, start beating the owner of the house and all the family because they were just trying to let the settlers go out of their houses.
When people try to get them to leave, the Israeli soldiers are coming and beating the owners of the houses and telling them that they shouldn't do anything to stop the settlers.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What does a typical school day look like at Al‑Makir Boys School?
0:00–3:33
2
How has the school’s fence and walls been reinforced against settler attacks?
3:33–7:38
3
Why is Al‑Mughayyir village considered a frontline between settlers and the Israeli military?
7:38–12:22
4
What happened during the April shooting that killed the 14‑year‑old student?
12:22–15:39
5
Who was Aus, the ninth‑grade student killed, and how did his death affect the community?
15:39–19:12
6
How do Israeli settlers, the military, and police coordinate in the village’s siege?
19:12–22:57
7
What international and Israeli political reactions followed the school attacks?
22:57–27:06
8
Can the school and its village survive the ongoing siege and violence?
27:06–31:53
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2 identifiedMore from Today in Focus
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