South Hebron Hills, at-Tuwani, Sun 2.6.13, Morning

Southern Hebron Hills, at-Tuwani   

 I went alone because Leah volunteered to go to the checkpoints other times, to make sure that the transportations to the sea camp were leaving as scheduled. I wanted to find out at the school in Tuwani whether the bus for the children of Um Tuba School was arranged, as claimed in the letter we received from the public complaints officer of the civil administration. Nowadays children are walking to school, an hour each way, always accompanied by IDF force, and often also by activists from various organizations, to protect them from violent settlers. We met with the school principal and we realized that it is not settled. The proposal is to take the children through a long detour, about an hour long on unpaved roads, which requires 4X4 vehicles - making the proposal irrelevant.

From the school we went to Saber, the head of Tuwani’s Council. He told us that there is enough money to build four more classrooms as a second floor at the existing school. The money for the construction comes from UNICEF - the Education Fund of the United Nations – but in order to begin construction they need a written permission from the Civil Administration. Despite many requests there is no response from the administration, despite the fact that Tuwani has a master plan in which the school is included.