Children in West Bank village must cross barrier to get to school

Published: 2005-09-14

NUAMAN, West Bank (CNS) -- Last year, the handful of elementary-age children from the tiny village of Nuaman would have taken a school bus to their school in the neighboring village of Al Khas, 1.2 miles away. This year, the children spend an hour each day trying to get to school on foot, along the path where a section of the Israeli separation barrier is near completion. "The fact the children will have to walk one and a quarter miles to school is not such a problem. The problem is what they will have to go through to get to school, especially considering there will be (Jewish) settlements built here," said Operation Dove member Viviana Gessaga, a 25-year-old physical therapist from Milan, Italy. When the barrier is completed, children from the village will have to walk alongside its electric fencing and barbed wire and go through a locked gate to reach their school. They will be at the mercy of Israeli soldiers who will have the power to lock and unlock the gate and will have to be relied upon to arrive on time to allow the children through, added Amiel Vardi, an Israeli professor from Hebrew University and a peace activist in the Campus Won't Be Silent organization.

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