Occupation forces replace flag of Palestine with Israel on Nablus school 

Israeli occupation forces removes a Palestine flag hanging on a school building in the Palestinian village of Al-Lubban Ash-Sharqiya near Nablus in the occupied West Bank and replaced it with an Israeli flag.

Ayesha Nubani, the principal of Al-Lubban Secondary Girls Schools, said Israeli soldiers sneaked into the school building in the early hours of the morning, tore down the Palestine flag and replaced it with the flag of Israel.

This is not the first time occupation forces have taken down the school’s Palestinian flag, it is however the first time they replaced it with the flag of the occupation state, Wafa news agency.

The Palestinian Foreign and Expatriates Ministry slammed the move as a violation and targeting of Palestinian education institutions, particularly those located on illegal settler-only bypass roads and in Area C of the occupied West Bank, such as Masafer Yatta and the Jordan Valley.

It added that the removal of the flag was a direct result of the incitement to hatred by radical Israeli far-right settlers known for Jewish supremacist rhetoric, led by the far-right Otzma Yehudit Party and its leader, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Religious Zionist Party leader, Bezalel Smotrich. Both are due to be appointed to important security ministries in Israel’s incoming coalition government.

Occupation forces have recently escalated their repressive practices against Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, including through the demolition of homes and schools, stopping construction and preventing Palestinians and shepherds from accessing their land.

In August, the Israeli forces issued a demolition order to a school in the village of Shuub Al-Batn in Masafer Yatta. Some 54 children attended the school that has been open since 2015.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and human rights abuses against Palestinians and breaches of international law are daily occurrences.

READ: EU delegation – ‘appalled’ by Israel’s demolition of primary school in Occupied Palestine