Orphans under threat in Hebron
Orphans demonstrating in Hebron. Photo taken by CPT.
Soldiers destroying the school. Photo taken by CPT.
Some 240 boys and girls aged 5-18 living in two orphanages run by the Islamic Charitable Society in Hebron (ICS) may soon be homeless. The reason is an order issued by General Gadi Shamni, head of the military in the West Bank, to close buildings rented by the ICS, saying it is working for Hamas. The army has already welded shut the gates of a newly built school for 1,200 students that was supposed to open in September. Three schools in Hebron with 1,700 students are under threat of closure by the military.
A warehouse with school supplies, clothing and food has already been confiscated as well as two new school buses and a van. Two bakeries supplying around 5,000 people with bread has also been closed. Clothes and machines from a sewing centre, where girls were taught handicraft, was also raided. ICS estimates the material confiscated by the army to be worth USD 400,000.
Last Thursday, June 6th, Israeli military raided more buildings just outside Hebron where an ICS branch runs a school for 590 boys and girls as well as a kindergarten for 650 children.
The Israeli military said to IRIN, Integrated Regional Information Networks (part of UN-OCHA), that ICS "masquerades as a charity organisation in order to cover its activities of increasing support for the Hamas terror network." ICS is also accused of indoctrinating youth with radical Islamist ideology, though no proof has been presented. Teachers from the schools claim that accusations are false and are willing to undergo an investigation by any neutral and credible part. The ICS says it has no connections with Hamas and provided IRIN with documents showing that the Palestinian Authority has audited and approved the work of the organisation. Ghassan Muhammed, a supervisor at the charity’s boy’s school said to IRIN, "We have been open since 1962. We had Jordanian approval, then Israeli and now that of the PA. We were around long before Hamas even existed." The ICS legal representative Abd al-Kareem Farah, states through an interpreter, "Every penny that comes in and every penny that is spent, we have records. It's completely transparent... We are functioning in broad daylight. We have nothing to conceal. We have nothing to hide. All our papers are available for anyone who wishes to know the truth."
Altogether, thousands of students may be affected by the closures. Where the 240 orphans shall seek shelter if the orphanages are closed is not known. Whether or not there is any connection between ICS and Hamas, it is wrong to punish the children. To close schools and put children in the street without providing any alternative solution can never be justified. Article 50 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states:
The Occupying Power shall, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities, facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children… Should the local institutions be inadequate for the purpose, the Occupying Power shall make arrangements for the maintenance and education, if possible by persons of their own nationality, language and religion, of children who are orphaned or separated from their parents as a result of the war and who cannot be adequately cared for by a near relative or friend.
Article 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states, "… parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure protection and care of children who are affected by an armed conflict."
Many internationals and programmes like the EAPPI have shown their support for the ICS, the orphans and the students. Among them are the former US president Jimmy Carter and Mairead Corrigan Maguire, winner of the 1976 Nobel peace prize. To show her support, Maguire stayed over night in one of the orphanages together with the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) in Hebron. Since the 2nd of June, the CPT plans to spend several nights every week in the buildings to protect the orphanages and schools and to be able to document any actions by the Israeli army. "The justification produced by the Israeli military – claiming that the ICS is engaged in illegal activities connected to Hamas – but presenting no proof, represents an abuse and cannot be used to punish the civil population," writes Luisa Morgantini, Vice President of the European Parliament in an open letter.
