World Vision statement on attack on girls’ school in Nablus

JERUSALEM-WESTBANK-GAZA - World Vision condemns a recent attack on the Al Sawiya Girls Secondary School in Nablus Tuesday night that damaged a storehouse and destroyed sports equipment that the organisation had donated to the school.

World Vision is particularly concerned about the inflammatory overtones of the attack, which included intimidating slogans spray-painted in Hebrew over the door, and the fact that the attack targeted a children’s institution.

Seventh grade student Nour said they when they got to school the next day, "The girls were so scared...I don't feel safe. They can come anytime and hurt us."

This attack is not the first on the school and contributes to a sense of fear and uncertainty for the girls in an environment where they should feel secure and be free to learn.

"I feel they don't want us to learn, and they want to burn our school," said 14-year old Maysoon. "Just like they have rights, we want ours as well."

World Vision believes that all children – both Palestinian and Israeli – have the right to live and grow up in safety, free from violence and fear and that both Palestinian and Israeli children suffer because of violence or the threat of violence.

"This school is supposed to be secure, a safe place for the children. But they have broken in and set fire to it," said the mayor of Al Sawiya, Mahmoud Asaad.

World Vision believes that the occupation has negative spiritual and psychological effects on Israelis and Palestinians. We stand in solidarity with the poor and oppressed in a common search for justice, seeking to understand their situation under occupation and working alongside them towards fullness of life.

Al Sawiya Girls Secondary School is part of World Vision’s community project in South Nablus. There are 1,700 children from South Nablus registered in World Vision’s projects, 80 of whom attend the school.