A Palestinian representative added that education in Palestine has been greatly affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has worsened the situation from which it was already suffering.
The Arab League said that the negative effects on Palestinian education comes as the occupation authorities continue to target educational facilities throughout the occupied Palestinian territories.
It has also called on the international community to face its responsibilities and to put an immediate end to the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and Jerusalem.
The regional organisation also called for the quick and decisive confrontation of the crimes of uprooting and forcible transfer. This is in addition to ensuring international protection for the Palestinian people on the path to ending the Israeli occupation of the occupied lands.
The remarks were made during a speech on Tuesday by Dr Saeed Abou Ali, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Palestinian and Occupied Territories Sector. The speech took place at the opening of the 103rd session of the Committee for Educational Programs directed at Arab students in the Occupied Territories.
Abou Ali denounced “the policies and measures taken by the occupation authorities to prevent Jerusalem from participating in the national elections”.
He indicated that Israel is continuing with its policies that violate international law and legitimacy, and disregard the will of the international community.
This consecrates the occupation, settlement, and Judaification, and the denial of the most basic rights of the Palestinian people, as well as the destruction of all possibilities for achieving peace.
He expressed his deep appreciation and pride in the struggle and steadfastness of the Palestinian people, and for the achievements made by the Jerusalemites in facing the recent Israeli measures in Jerusalem’s Bab Al-Amoud area.
He said, “These Israeli practices and violations, despite their negative effects, constituted an incentive to multiply the causes of steadfastness and the Palestinian insistence on developing, fortifying, and protecting the educational process, in order to achieve more successes and achievements that call for appreciation and pride.”
Abou Ali saluted the efforts of specialised Palestinian institutions, as well as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the education sector, and its achievement despite the financial circumstances it faces.
A digital educational platform has been launched, with the hope that it will successfully regularise the educational process in light of the global pandemic.
Abou Ali expressed his confidence that the Arab League meeting will contribute effectively to confronting Israeli attempts to destroy the educational process.
He noted that it is also set to contribute to providing the necessary support by keeping pace with the technical and methodological developments in the educational process.
The committee includes delegations from: Jordan; Palestine; Egypt; the Arab States Broadcasting Union; the Arab Organization for Education, Culture and Science (ALECSO); the Islamic World Organization for Education, Science and Culture (ISESCO); and the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
