Dr Mohammed Alruzzi
This article draws on an episode of EENET’s podcast, Inclusive Education: Unheard Stories in which we interviewed Mohammed. He reflects on his own education in Gaza and how Israel’s illegal occupation, oppressive colonial policies, blockade of the territory, and now relentless bombardment have affected the education system.
My education
I was born in Gaza as a refugee in a camp. I went to an UNWRA school. This was an important part of my learning journey. I grew up during a critical time in Palestinian history, during the first uprising or Intifada. Palestinian children were key political participants in that period. I recall Israeli soldiers coming to search the schools. They tried to arrest children and prevent them from protesting for freedom. It was common to close schools for extended periods during the Intifada.
After completing high school, I tried to study occupational therapy at a West Bank university because there were no occupational therapists in Gaza in 2003. I wasn’t allowed to travel 15 miles from Gaza to the West Bank. Israeli authorities refused many students’ movement between the two Palestinian territories. State-restricted mobility later impacted my opportunities to do research too.
State oppression of the education system
The current oppression in Gaza is not new; it has been integral to our lives for decades. The systematic destruction of education infrastructure and targeting of schools by Israel is also not new, but the latest intensity is unprecedented.
My PhD focused on education and labour in Palestine with special focus on Gaza, looking at three different generations: those growing up during the first Intifada (1987-1993), during the period of peacebuilding (1993-2000), and during the second Intifada (2000-2005). I analysed changes in perception of work and education over these periods and explored how Israeli policies make education more difficult for Palestinians.
Many policies impacted mobility or sought to prevent schools and universities from working. We know that when the school year is interrupted there is a risk of many children not returning. It is therefore no coincidence that schools were kept closed for months during the first Intifada.
To counter that, Palestinians organised learning spaces in their homes to help neighbouring children continue their education, but these spaces were also banned. Israeli policies and conditional international funding have consistently dictated curriculum content, as a further level of control over our education and opportunities. During the first Intifada, the Israeli military administration controlled how teachers were selected.
Education has been central for Palestinians throughout all these periods as something we can carry with us wherever we go – remembering that many in Gaza have been refugees for most of their lives and for multiple generations.
Investment in education increased in the peacebuilding era. Palestinian learners and their families began to feel more optimistic about realising the right to self-determination and having their own state, which would need skilled citizens.
This was a noticeable change when compared, for instance, with the period after the 1967 war and Israeli occupation. Israeli policy had been to deskill Palestinians to meet Israel’s labour market needs during that period and there were no universities in occupied Palestinian territories. Higher education overseas was the only option, but free movement for education purposes was limited for Palestinians.
Each political milestone in the history of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is characterised by different forms of control, surveillance, and censorship affecting education.
Education and international law
Given the genocide happening in Gaza, it feels like a luxury to think about education and reopening schools when we can’t achieve the basic right to survival. Yet we want to maintain education. We want schools to be safe and inclusive places that provide children with a sense of regularity and routine and spaces to play and learn.
In previous wars in Gaza, schools were targeted, and Israeli authorities were not held accountable for these violations. Now, despite schools and UN facilities infrastructure being used as shelters for the displaced, they are regularly bombed. The results are devastating, and still there is no accountability.
What can be done to protect education and learners in a context where an occupying power seems able to violate international law with impunity? Much more should be done by the international community and civil society to question Israeli actions that violate international law and that ignore UN and Security Council resolutions.
Palestine and Israel are signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Both submit periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva. Israel avoids discussing occupied Palestinian territories and violations of education rights there. The Committee has a role to remind Israeli authorities that, as the occupying power under international law, they are responsible for protecting Palestinian children and providing for their education. Israel denies this responsibility but prevents Palestinian authorities from exercising the sovereignty needed to design, resource and manage their own education system. Education for Palestinians is left in limbo.
Rebuilding education
The current dismantling of education in Gaza has reached new levels. Educational institutions are vital for rebuilding after war, so the current scale of destruction suggests Israel does not want Gazans to return to any sort of normality. It is now difficult for people to organise community education initiatives like they might have done before or use the virtual learning methods developed during COVID-19 or in other wars such as Ukraine. Gaza faces ongoing telecommunications blackouts and while there are youth groups in the refugee camps, working under these conditions is challenging.
Educational and community spaces offer a starting point for rebuilding. We need international organisations to speak out as loudly as possible about the importance of education and the need to protect Gaza’s schools.
In 2020/2021 I was involved in research that looked at what we mean by protection in a context like Gaza, where we cannot really protect our children. What do we mean by protection if children cannot go to school safely? What do we mean by protection if their future is not protected? Protecting the future is something rarely discussed when talking about child protection, but it is vital for ensuring that children have hope and aspirations.
Palestinians live as refugees, in both Gaza and the West Bank, and across neighbouring countries. As we contemplate rebuilding Gaza’s education system, I hope for a future where education for Palestinian learners brings dispersed communities together – if not physically, then at least through shared educational cultures and curricula.
Dr. Mohammed Alruzzi co-founded Gaza Children’s Cinema and is now a Lecturer in Childhood Studies at the University of Bristol, UK.