HEBRON, March 28, 2010 (WAFA)- For three consecutive days Palestinian school children from Maghayir al Abeed and Tuba were subjected to unprofessional conduct by the Israeli Soldiers.
Operation Dove and Christians Peacemakers Teams (CPT) said in a press release: Israeli army personnel did not show up at the appropriate time forcing children to wait in unsafe areas were they have experienced past attacks. When the army did finally arrive they proceeded to yell at the children. On one occasion the army failed to complete the escort, resulting in harassment of the children by settlers.
On Tuesday March 23, CPTers called the army three times before the afternoon escort finally arrived. . This resulted in the children arriving home 45 minutes late.
On Wednesday March 24, CPTers called the army three times before the afternoon escort arrived. When the army finally arrived, the soldiers began to yell at the children to hurry up the road. The children rushed to gather their belongings and one young girl left her sweater behind. When CPTer Jessica Frederick urged the soldiers to be patient, a soldier replied, “We have missions to do.” Frederick stated that escorting the children was one of their missions, but the soldier answered, “No, we have missions to do, and this is a bonus.”
On Thursday March 25, the soldiers failed to complete the morning escort. After escorting the children partway to At-Tuwani, the soldiers drove away, leaving the children to walk alone past two Israeli settlers. The children ran down the road to At-Tuwani when they saw settlers pick up stones because they believed the settlers would throw the rocks at them based on past experiences. During afternoon school patrol internationals called the Army escort three times. The children waited 35 minutes for the escort to arrive.
The children require a military escort to and from school because of repeated attacks by Israeli settlers from Ma’on settlement and Havat Ma’on outpost. When the Israeli military does not arrive on time to accompany the children, they must wait in an area of de facto settler control, a location where settlers have attacked the young Palestinian children on a number of occasions in the past. The most recent attack was a month ago, on 22 February 2010.
