Fears for children's safety in West Bank school as settler attacks rise

Fears for children’s safety in West Bank school as settler attacks riseFears for children’s safety in West Bank school as settler attacks rise

A school in the occupied West Bank has been surrounded by barbed-wire fencing as Palestinian parents fear for their children’s safety due to the rise of Israeli settler attacks in the area.

The isolated village of al-Mughayyir, north-east of Ramallah, has been increasingly surrounded by Jewish settler outposts, and regularly blocked by Israeli forces who frequently operate an ad-hoc checkpoint at the entrance.

Six people, including three pupils at the school, have been killed in al-Mughayyir this year, in a surge of settler-related violence against Palestinians. One of them, 14-year-old Aws al-Naasan, was shot dead by a settler outside the school gates in April.

All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law. Many of the small ad-hoc settler outposts that have mushroomed around al-Mughayyir are illegal under Israeli law too.

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