RAMALLAH, Monday, January 21, 2019 (WAFA) - The Islamic Christian Council warned on Monday that Israel’s decision to close al-Qadisieh school in the Old City of Jerusalem is a prelude to closing all schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) operating in the occupied city.

In said in a statement that the decision is not going to only harm education in the city, but also is intended to increase Jewish presence in the Old City, particularly in the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, since the school is expected to be turned over Jewish settlers.

Hanna Issa, secretary of the council, considered the closure of al-Qadisieh as a prelude to the implementation of the decision by the Israeli occupation authorities to close UNRWA institutions in occupied Jerusalem, especially education and health.

He stressed the seriousness of these decisions on the future of the city, which means ending the refugee status in Jerusalem by denying the city’s refugees the right of return to their lands and homes they were forced out from when Israel was created in 1948.

The Islamic Christian Council called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities and on the UN Security Council to intervene to stop these grave violations of the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and its protocols.

The West Jerusalem Israeli municipality said al-Qadisieh school will be closed at the end of the current school year and its 385 Palestinian students will be transferred to another public school in the city. The school has an area of 1200 square meters and is over 120 years old. It was used as a hospital and then as the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate before it was turned into a police station in 1917 during the British Mandate to later become a school.

M.K.