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Na'ima is threatening the Jewish majority
By Dafna Golan
Although the school year began on September 2, Na'ima, 9, is still at home. Not one school in the city could find a place for her. Thousands of pupils in East Jerusalem are in the same situation. A city official in late August spelled it out in a letter to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). Suheila Abu Ghosh, the assistant director of Manhi, the Jerusalem Education Administration, which belongs to the municipality and to the Education Ministry, wrote that "to our regret no places were found to absorb the 16 pupils who appear on the lists you enclosed with your letters, in grades two to eight." On official stationery of the municipality and the ministry, the person in charge of education admits there is no room in the schools for Jerusalem children who are legally entitled to compulsory education.

In recent weeks, the Jerusalem Education Administration has been trying to find room for the 16 children for fear ACRI would turn to the High Court of Justice. As has happened every year in recent years, the threat to petition the High Court forces the Jerusalem Municipality to pressure school principals into crowding another Palestinian child into an already crowded classroom, to find a solution for the petitioners.

At the start of school last year the education minister declared her intention of working to reduce the shortage of about 1,300 classrooms in East Jerusalem, but during the past year only 50 new classrooms were built there. Despite the commitment of the Education Ministry and the Jerusalem Municipality to the High Court, from 2001-2007, to build at least 645 classrooms in East Jerusalem (245 according to a 2001 High Court decision and 400 in the context of the promise given to the High Court this year), in fact, fewer than 100 new classrooms have been built since 2001.
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The petitions of parents whose children found no room in Jerusalem schools continue to be processed in the High Court, but the legal discussions, the focus on details, are concealing what any child can see: Jerusalem, which is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its reunification, is conducting a policy of separation.

According to the report of the Coalition for the Advancement of Arab Education in East Jerusalem, only about half the Palestinian children in East Jerusalem, about 39,400 out of about 79,000, are at present studying in the city school system. Most of the others study in private schools, in United Nations schools or outside the city. About two-thirds of the public schools in East Jerusalem operate in rented apartments. And, still, hundreds of children remain without a place in Jerusalem's schools.

During 40 years of occupation Israel built Jewish neighborhoods on Arab land in East Jerusalem, such as Gilo, French Hill, Neveh Yaakov et al, and - wonder of wonders - there are no children in these neighborhoods who have to turn to the courts in order to attend school. After all, it is unthinkable to have no room for Jewish children in the Jerusalem school system.

Jerusalem, which is now joyously celebrating the 40th anniversary of its reunification, is a divided city. The discrimination in education is part of a consistent attempt to reduce the number of Palestinian residents in the city, so as to maintain a Jewish majority. These efforts are also reflected in the demolition of homes, the confiscation of land, the confiscation of ID cards from anyone who has gone to study elsewhere, for example, and in the crowded conditions in the schools. All these are the implementation of a policy that considers Palestinians second-class citizens.

That's why there is no room for Na'ima in Jerusalem's schools. Na'ima, like thousands of other Palestinian children in Jerusalem, threatens the Jewish majority. The Israeli school system does not want Na'ima. It doesn't want Na'zz to remind it that maintaining the Jewish majority is an unethical goal. The educational policy in Jerusalem is a microcosm of the general situation in discriminatory Israel. A country that builds schools for children from one group and not from another is an apartheid state.

The writer is a member of the Law Faculty at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
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  1.   how many paleces in arab schools for jewish children ? 09:31  |  victor hardman 03/10/07
  2.   And we have been told 100000000 times that Israel is the only 09:56  |  Khalil Ishabib 03/10/07
  3.   Go to school in Gaza then 10:04  |  Malcolm Green 03/10/07
  4.   #2Khalil-ISRAEL IS THE ONLY DEMOCRACY IN A SEA OF ARAB DICTATORS 10:47  |  Mitch Iginer 03/10/07
  5.   What`s Wrong With Palestinian Schools? 11:03  |  Efox 03/10/07
  6.   re: Khalil Ishabib 11:04  |  Efox 03/10/07
  7.   How many jewish parents? #1 11:06  |  Anne 03/10/07
  8.   re: Anne 11:34  |  Efox 03/10/07
  9.   Justifying the unjustifiable 11:48  |  Murray 03/10/07
  10.   Hat off to Dafna Golan! 11:51  |  Citizen 03/10/07
  11.   #9Muray-Does your MEANINGLESS EMPTY comment make you feel better? 12:01  |  Mitch Iginer 03/10/07
  12.   # 11 Just call it racism 12:19  |  Andrew Watson 03/10/07
  13.   Low ambitions 12:34  |  Murray 03/10/07
  14.   #10 Hat not off to Citizen and to Dafna Golan 12:40  |  Hastaroth 03/10/07
  15.   Mitch...your reading skills are obviously Israeli 12:43  |  Tim 03/10/07
  16.   #12 Watson lacks elementary skills 12:44  |  Hastaroth 03/10/07
  17.   #12Andrew-OK IT`S RACISM...THAT DRIVES YOU AND MURRAY 12:45  |  Mitch Iginer 03/10/07
  18.   To Hastaroth (Contradictions?) 12:54  |  Citizen 03/10/07
  19.   Identified as a racist 13:05  |  Murray 03/10/07
  20.   To Hastaroth 13:06  |  Educator 03/10/07
  21.   fair reporting 13:07  |  Jo Jo 03/10/07
  22.   #15Tim-I`m IVY league educated,therefore you compliment Israel. 13:12  |  Mitch Iginer 03/10/07
  23.   Dafna Golan: is it language or religion? 13:14  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 03/10/07
  24.   #17 / Mitch and your comparisons... 13:51  |  Anne 03/10/07
  25.   An embarrassment 13:56  |  david 03/10/07
  26.   To all you jingoistic & apartheid fools! 14:45  |  BwanaVic 03/10/07
  27.   It is the high Arab birth rate that is the problem. 15:07  |  Robert 03/10/07
  28.   Chaval 15:21  |  Polybios 03/10/07
  29.   Efox- #5. They teach terrorism, that`s what 15:26  |  Polybios 03/10/07
  30.   Hastaroth 16:18  |  Said 03/10/07
  31.   aparthied? 16:22  |  ravi 03/10/07
  32.   sabotaging the education is a typical Israeli strategy 16:28  |  mehmet 03/10/07
  33.   #23 So called peacemaker Margie looks for fault elsewhere 16:45  |  Labhras 03/10/07
  34.   Here is another example "Equality in Democratic Israel". 16:48  |  Labhras 03/10/07
  35.   #17 Robert 16:54  |  Labhras 03/10/07
  36.   Robert from Montreal 17:01  |  Janice 03/10/07
  37.   #4, Mitch 17:16  |  Hannah 03/10/07
  38.   #11, Mitch 17:25  |  Hannah 03/10/07
  39.   #14, Hasteroth 17:32  |  Hannah 03/10/07
  40.   Another example 17:34  |  Danite 03/10/07
  41.   Tim: An Excercise in Hyperpatheticness 17:36  |  Tex 03/10/07
  42.   #17, Mitch 17:37  |  Hannah 03/10/07
  43.   Margie in tel Aviv 17:37  |  Danite 03/10/07
  44.   Democratic Israel ?? # 34 17:37  |  Bernd 03/10/07
  45.   Peace Loving Labhrass Still Avoiding Real Conflict 17:39  |  Tex 03/10/07
  46.   #26, BwanaVic 17:41  |  Hannah 03/10/07
  47.   Naima should not go to school in a country she does not recognize 17:52  |  Feiglin Supporter 03/10/07
  48.   Get your own state and get out 17:52  |  To antisemites 03/10/07
  49.   ravi and apartheid 18:05  |  cuckoo`snest 03/10/07
  50.   #36 Janice 18:07  |  Labhras 03/10/07
  51.   ravi and apartheid 18:07  |  cuckoo`snest 03/10/07
  52.   ravi apartheid is the treatment meted out to the dalits 18:11  |  cuckoo`snest 03/10/07
  53.   #45 Hi Margie.or Channah S 18:13  |  Labhras 03/10/07
  54.   #41 Tex aka Margie 18:19  |  Labhras 03/10/07
  55.   #26 Bwana Vic 18:36  |  Labhras 03/10/07
  56.   #16 Hastoroth 18:43  |  Labhras 03/10/07
  57.   Janice - just for your info. 18:44  |  Polybios 03/10/07
  58.   mehmet - it`s not a strategy. They have no strategy. 18:49  |  Polybios 03/10/07
  59.   Taxes, and loaded vocabulary 19:12  |  Scharker Yid 03/10/07
  60.   Danite 19:26  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 03/10/07
  61.   Bernd the UK has no constitution either 19:28  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 03/10/07
  62.   TO MURRAY #13 19:31  |  Steve Beikirch 03/10/07
  63.   Khalil Ishabib 20:03  |  tadchase 03/10/07
  64.   actually bwana (and what THAT name says about you!) 20:34  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 03/10/07
  65.   #38,39 A fitting subject for Lab rat`s sermons 20:41  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 03/10/07
  66.   # 8 Efox 20:49  |  christa 03/10/07
  67.   To #47. On the surface, it is simple: Naima is 9 yearts old. 20:50  |  Jozef 03/10/07
  68.   WHY ISNT THERE MONEY FROM ARAB COUNTRIES 21:09  |  TOBIA 03/10/07
  69.   high speed 21:16  |  val2002 03/10/07
  70.   reminds me of a gentleman`s comments re Arabs in the Arab world.. 21:18  |  Tess 03/10/07
  71.   Tess - how many... 21:27  |  Polybios 03/10/07
  72.   #50 Labhras 21:30  |  Janice 03/10/07
  73.   tadchase #63 21:32  |  Polybios 03/10/07
  74.   victor hardman - What arab palaces? 21:32  |  YOU IDIOT! 03/10/07
  75.   "65 Tex aka Margie the so called peace maker. 21:35  |  Labhras 03/10/07
  76.   # 61 The UK ....Margie 21:40  |  Bernd 03/10/07
  77.   Tobia from NY #68 21:41  |  Richelle 03/10/07
  78.   #60 Tex Aka Margie the So called peace make 21:45  |  Labhras 03/10/07
  79.   #60 Margie in Tel Aviv 21:54  |  Labhras 03/10/07
  80.   Evidence here that peace talks are a joke. Israelis want time to 21:56  |  Apartheid 03/10/07
  81.   Polybios.... 21:58  |  Tess 03/10/07
  82.