Israel occupation forces detain Palestinian teachers at military checkpoint near Bethlehem

The Israel occupation forces detained several Palestinian teachers at a military checkpoint near Bethlehem earlier today, Wafa has reported. The teachers work at Tawafuq Mixed Secondary School and Al-Jab’a Boys Secondary School and were eventually released, but only after the school day had started.

Attacks on schools by Israeli forces and settlers have intensified, with another incident just two days ago. A group of Israeli settlers attacked students and teaching staff at Al-Ka’abneh Elementary School in the Ma’arjat area, north west of Jericho in the occupied West Bank. Local sources reported that the settlers were armed with batons which they used to attack the school, beat an elderly man and assault students and teachers.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that its crews dealt with three injuries following the attack, and the victims were transferred to hospital for treatment.

The school remains under siege and locals are calling on international humanitarian agencies to intervene immediately as the situation has reached an unprecedented level of danger.

Palestinians and rights groups regularly accuse Israeli forces of standing by as settler attacks take place and sometimes even joining in themselves. Legal action against violent settlers is rare.

However, a number of countries, including the United States, have begun imposing sanctions on individuals and face pressure to do more to curb the expansion of settlements on land designated as the core of a future independent state of Palestine, a key part of the two-state solution favoured by the West.

The West Bank has witnessed almost daily sweeps by Israeli forces that have involved thousands of arrests and regular gun battles between security forces and Palestinians. More than 703 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since 7 October last year, including unarmed civilians, according to the Palestinian health authorities.

Jewish settlements built on land Israel occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War are illegal under international law. Their expansion has for decades been among the most contentious issues between Israel, the Palestinians and the international community.

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