Students from Anata secondary school have resisted an attack by Occupation Forces on their school, its pupils and teachers. On January the 2nd, a large contingent of soldiers arrived at the school after classes had begun and began to physically attack students and teachers. One teacher was singled out for arrest, but students and teachers stood united against the Occupation Forces and prevented the arrest.
Soldiers left the school but waited at short distance until the classes ended. As students filtered out from the school Occupation Forces fired tear gas and sound bombs at students and staff. Many children were overcome by the volume of tear gas and collapsed with breathing difficulties. Occupation Soldiers then beat 15 year old Muhamed Abed al Wahab al Khateeb until his leg was broken.
800 meters2 of the schoolyard was destroyed on the 15th of August in 2005 for the path of the Apartheid Wall which cuts across the playground. The Apartheid Wall is the pretext used by the Occupation to perpetually harass and attack students. Studentsâ education has been continually disrupted by the Occupation Forces who maintain a constant presence around the school. This has provoked repeated clashes as Palestinian students continue to assert their right to learn and their refusal to accept the Apartheid Wall on their land.
Anata is one of the many villages around Jerusalem, woven into the fabric, culture and history of the Palestinian capital. The Apartheid Wall has shut them out from the city and also cuts the inhabitants of Anata off from their land. Palestinians here once owned more than 34,000 dunums of land. The total land of Anata today is a mere 4,000 dunums, due to the continual expansion of Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land.
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