Quakers condemn dangerous Ramallah Friends School incursion

Military raids and settler violence are increasingly common in the occupied West Bank and schools are on the frontline of attacks by the Israeli army.

Tear gas canisters were fired near the school and snipers were positioned around the buildings. A parent was fired on while trying to reach the school gates.

For the safety of students, staff immediately secured each building, moving children to the lower floors. Nobody at the school was injured but the children were left shaken, their families anxious, and staff continue to exercise great caution.

Ramallah Friends School is governed by Friends United Meeting (FUM) and traces its history back to 1869. Students attend silent meetings for worship and learn about nonviolent peacemaking.

Kelly Kellum, FUM general secretary, put out an urgent call for support: "We ask Friends everywhere to continue to hold the students, families, and staff of Ramallah Friends School in prayer.

"Your ongoing attention, advocacy, and intercession are vital in these troubling times. We will continue to provide updates as we are able."

The incursion was part of a daytime raid on Ramallah where according to the Palestinian Red Crescent 58 people were wounded.

Children on frontline of attacks

In an update last year, Save the Children said that 158 children were killed and at least 1,400 injured by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank in the year from 7 October 2023.

And the UN estimated that 58 Palestinian schools were at risk of demolition by the Israeli authorities and 782,000 school students are subject to movement restrictions and violence from extremist Israeli settlers.

This is happening in the context of Israel's Higher Planning Council officially approving long-frozen plans to build 3,401 illegal housing units for Israeli settlers on Palestinian-owned land in the E1 area between East Jerusalem and Maale Adumim.

These settlements, illegal under international law, will expel thousands of Palestinians, cut the West Bank in two and destroy the possibility of a viable Palestinian state.

Oliver Robertson, head of witness and worship for Quakers in Britain condemned the military raid.

He said: "Schools should be a place of sanctuary and learning but increasingly places of education in the West Bank are threatened by Israeli military and settler violence."

"Once again we call on the UK government to uphold its obligations under international law and take meaningful action to end the system of apartheid in occupied Palestine.

“We hold in the light Ramallah Friends School, the wider community and everyone working for peace at this difficult time."