Stop the demolition of Kahn Al-Ahmar school

Brussels, 25 April 2018. MEPs release a statement to urge the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union to urgently request that the Israeli authorities lift the threat of demolition against the school in the bedouin village of Khan Al-Ahmar.

“On Wednesday 24 April, the Israeli High Court will decide whether Khan Al-Ahmar village’s school, located 25 kilometres outside Jerusalem, will be destroyed.

This small Bedouin village is located between Jerusalem and Jericho, in the narrowest piece of land in the West Bank. Israeli authorities have been harrassing the inhabitants of Khan al Ahmar for decades, in order to pressurise them to leave, thereby removing a barrier to Israeli settlement on Bedouin land, and effectively cut demographically the West Bank in two pieces.

The school, built out of tyres and mud, is crucial for the education of the children in the village, and particularly the girls. Before the school was built children had to walk 15 miles to access the nearest school. Girls usually did not go to school at all.

As well as proving vital education, the school also plays a vital role in the social life of the village, as Medical Aid is organised within it, and there are also adult education classes available for parents and the wider community.

As Members of the European Parliament, we stand in solidarity with Khan Al-Ahmar, and we urge our High Representative for Foreign Policy, Federica Mogherini, to urgently request that the Israeli authorities lift the threat of demolition.

We should never forget that education is a Sustainable Development Goal, vital to ending poverty and for promoting global citizenship.”

 

Martina Anderson (GUE, Ireland)
Maria Arena (S&D, Belgium)
Margrete Auken (Greens, Danemark)
Brando Benifiei (S&D, Italy)
Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (ALDE, Spain)
Lynn Boylan (GUE, Ireland)
Matt Carthy (GUE, Ireland)
Nessa Childers (S&D, Ireland)
Javier Couso Permuy (GUE, Spain)
Jill Evans (Greens, Wales)
Tanja Fajon (S&D, Slovenia)
Eleonora Forenza (GUE, Italy)
Ana Gomas (S&D, Portugal)
Eva Joly (Greens, France)
Wajid Khan (S&D, UK)
Jude Kirton-Darling (S&D, UK)
Patrick Le Hyaric (GUE, France)
Edouard Martin (S&D, France)
Ana Miranda (Greens, Spain)
Javier Nart (ALDE, Spain)
Liadh Ni Riada (GUE, Ireland)
Luke Ming Flanagan (GUE, Ireland)
Soraya Post (S&D, Sweden)
Alyn Smith (Greens, UK)
Barbara Spinelli (GUE, Italy)
Bart Staes (Greens, Belgium)
Neoklis Sylkiotis (GUE, Cyprus)
Keith Taylor (Greens, UK)
Ernest Urtasun (Greens, Spain)
Ivo Vajgl (ALDE, Slovenia)
Bodil Valero (Greens, Sweden)
Angela Vallina De La Noval (GUE, Spain)
Hilde Vautmas (ALDE, Belgium)
Miguel Viegas (GUE, Portugal)
Julie Ward (S&D, UK)