Last August an unusual, ecologically-friendly structure of used tires and mud was opened as a primary school for the children of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe in the Judean desert. It was immediately served with a demolition order by the civil administration of the I.D.F. in Judea, a consequence of speedy intervention by the security officer of nearby Kfar Adumim.
Tomorrow the High Court of Justice will deliberate on whether that demolition, temporarily stopped by court order, will be carried out. The nearby settlers and the organization, "Regavim" ("For Saving the Nation's lands") insist it must without further delay.
Three Jahalin children have been killed, two injured and maimed for life, trying to reach the U.N.R.W.A. school in Jericho to which they had been assigned, being refugees from the Negev. The tribe had been expelled from the area near Tel Arad in the early 1950's. The parents stopped sending their little children at all. They started planning their own school and turned to the authorities for aid. They were met with administrative silence, and worse. All their tents and rough huts were served demolition orders. They were supposed to disappear, not appeal for help!
The school was built by the Jerusalem Bedouin Cooperative, a self-help group, with the assistance of local Israeli volunteers (mainly from "Rabbis For Human Rights") and an Italian socio-ecological N.G.O., Vento Di Terra, which specializes in aiding poor, indigenous populations by encouraging self-help and civil society.
Four temporary classrooms, designed by architect Valerio Marazzi of Milan were constructed from used truck tires, mud and some wooden beams. The Bedouin collected and purchased the materials, filled and plastered the tires with mud from local red clay and coated the outside with used falafel oil. The whole thing cost very little.
A reluctant promise by the Palestinian Authority to supply four teachers would only be fulfilled if there was a building standing by the beginning of August. This was an act of desperation after decades of neglect by both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Repeated requests for their basic rights to health, education, electricity, water and building permits have been either ignored or rejected. They watched their neighbours in Kfar Adumim just above them, pampered by the authorities, receive all the amenities and building rights they were denied.
So they built themselves a school.
Since August 60 children, aged 6-10, have been learning there daily. The look of delight and enthusiasm on their faces that first day of school was unforgettable. The look on those faces if the bulldozers come is unimaginable. The State of Israel, while encouraging Jews to settle nearby has taken no responsibility, despite humanitarian international law, for their situation. This is area C, where only Jews are allowed to build.
As a Jewish Israeli, a son of Holocaust refugees I know personally what education means to the children of refugees. As a religious person I see in education not only a basic human right, but also a spiritual value. I identify with their educational aspirations, and think we all should. I also admire their courage. I pray that tomorrow's court sitting will exemplify the noblest Jewish ideals of love of mankind, but fear that we will again see Jewish indifference to the rights and suffering of the non-Jews in our midst.
In chapter 1 of Isaiah's well known prophecy (Ketzinei Sdom, Am Amorrah") he describes the corruption of ancient Israel, words which still ring true today. He demands justice above all. Isaiah tells us of the indifference to the suffering of the poor. None are poorer than these Bedouin. It is in a case like this that our humanity is tested.
"Tzion BeMishpat Tipadeh" it says...Zion in Justice will be redeemed.
Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann
Director of Field Activities, Rabbis For Human Rights
