Sonia Ben Jaafar
Al-Jazeera / September 6, 2024
In Gaza and other conflict zones, relentless attacks on schools are threatening to upend key international legal principles.
On August 10, the Israeli bombardment of Al-Tabin School in Gaza City killed more than 100 people sheltering there, including many children. This was one of 17 deadly attacks on schools in the strip that took place last month, according to the United Nations. Spaces of learning – transformed into shelters for the displaced – have become repeated targets in this war, as the line between combatants and civilians has been blurred.
This week, tens of thousands of children should be celebrating the beginning of a new school year. Instead, they are living through the nightmare of scholasticide – a word invented specifically to describe the obliteration of education in Gaza.
Karma Nabulsi of Oxford University coined the term during the Israeli assault on Gaza in 2008-09, when schools, the Ministry of Education and other buildings related to learning were targeted. Today, the devastation wrought upon the education system in Gaza is unimaginable: Thousands of students and hundreds of teachers have been killed and hundreds of schools damaged or destroyed over the past 11 months.
This deliberate destruction of Gaza’s education system threatens not only the future of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children, but also the international humanitarian regime and our collective moral compass. It appears that global society is slowly accepting the unacceptable. The normalization of violence against schools is a stark indicator of a deeper crisis in our global values, where the protection of the innocent is no longer guaranteed, and the very fabric of our humanity is unravelling.
The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols state explicitly that attacking schools is a violation – and yet they continue. According to data collected by UNICEF, as of July 6, 318 schools in the Gaza Strip were directly targeted. Dozens of attacks have happened since then.
The debates about whether the August 10 strike on Al-Tabin School was legally justified or not because Hamas fighters may or may not have been operating there is a conversation that collectively misses the point. Schools are meant for learning. Such military actions are a direct assault on the fundamental rights of civilians, particularly children.
Beyond the obvious and unnecessary harm to children and youth, attacks on schools inevitably further escalate tensions, undermining efforts to reach a just and lasting resolution.
The right to education is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a right even during war, as provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulate. How can this right be ensured for Palestinian children if their schools are reduced to crumbling walls and craters?
Unfortunately, attacks on places of learning are not happening only in Gaza. According to UNICEF, since the escalation of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, more than 1,300 educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed.
According to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), incidents targeting education and the military use of schools increased by nearly 20 percent in 2022 and 2023 compared with the previous two years.
The international community’s ability to enforce the protections enshrined in international humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva Conventions, is clearly diminishing. These laws, ratified by more than 190 countries, mandate the protection of civilians, including children, during armed conflict and call for the prosecution of violators.
Yet, these commitments have failed to protect the children in Gaza and other conflict zones. While calls for immediate action, such as a ceasefire and humanitarian aid, are essential, they are not substitutes for decisive measures to enforce the provisions of international law.
When the international community tolerates violations of international law over months and years, it normalizes its erosion. This gradual acceptance weakens global norms, making once-unthinkable acts seem tolerable. When targeting schools becomes increasingly acceptable, a fundamental betrayal of the core principles of international legal regime and the protection of civilians has taken place.
The choice before us is stark: Either we act decisively to uphold the principles of humanitarian law and protect the innocent, or we allow the erosion of our shared values to continue unchecked. The world cannot afford to remain indifferent, for the cost of inaction is measured in the lives and futures of children.
Sonia Ben Jaafar – CEO of the Abdulla al-Ghurair Foundation
