“Scholasticide” While The World Watches

When they’re not wiping out entire families, and when they’re not murdering journalists, food aid workers, and doctors, and when they’re not cutting little girls in half with American-made munitions, possibly those marked “Finish Them!” and autographed by the sociopathic witch Nimarata, the Zionist occupiers of Palestine appear to delight in exterminating literacy and educational opportunities. The destruction of learning in Gaza is a sub-war in the greater genocide. And just like the attendant murder, maiming, displacement, torture, terrorism, impoverishment, and starvation, it is designed to have and is having a terrible effect on its victims.

Samir Mansour’s bookstore, the largest in Gaza, was a bibliophile’s dream. In addition to carrying hundreds of thousands of books, the shop also served as a community center, a haven for readers, students, and happy families. The Zionists bombed it to rubble in May 2021. Mansour reopened the outlet, bigger and better, in 2022. Last fall, the IGF (Israeli Genocide Force) destroyed it again. One may have heard that the Zionists are still defending themselves from a surprise attack that happened eight months ago. The incident was so much of a surprise that no one knew or warned about it three weeks in advance … except for Egyptian Intelligence and the Zionist’s 8200 ISNU Command. Many overlook the fact the incident was a byproduct of the Zionist’s violent occupation and dehumanization of Palestine for most of the past century. Of course, these minor details are part of history, a subject studied in books and schools, and, thus, something for the IGF to eradicate.

As for the ongoing destruction of schools and interruption of formal learning in Gaza, I’ve come across more than a few articles explaining the disaster, both in terms of numerical count and personal tragedy. I’ve also come across a term that perfectly describes what the Zionists are doing: ”Scholasticide.”

Award-winning Gaza journalist Maha Hussaini wrote a must-read column about the effects of the Zionist’s scholasticide at Middle East Eye. She describes the new-to-Palestinian parents phenomenon of homeschooling their children. So far as it goes in the US and much of the greater West, I am ordinarily a strong proponent of homeschooling. That is primarily due to the hard fact that most of the public schools in places like the US, and many private academies, are worse than useless. Mine is not the experience with good schools that actually educate and nurture children and which parents and students enjoy. Evidently, that was the condition of the schools in Gaza. Thus, the new and unexpected imposition of home education is, to say the least, trying on all parties involved. I’m also aware, based on the accounts of homeschoolers in the US, Canada, and Russia, that while homeschooling is rewarding, it can be, at least initially, a somewhat intimidating challenge. Imagine that challenge magnified by the daily dropping of American-made bombs, a lack of food and utilities, and the general horrific conditions of war. That is what Palestinian families now face each day. But, temporarily daunted or not, they are carrying on.

Ms. Hussaini also provided updated numbers and information on the scope of the anti-erudition calamity:

Before the war, there were 796 schools in the Gaza Strip, including 442 public schools, 70 private schools and 284 run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa. 

There were 12 universities and higher education institutions. 

Gaza had one of the lowest illiteracy rates in the world, with the percentage decreasing from 13.7 percent in 1997 to 1.8 percent in 2022.

Around 700,000 children and young people were enrolled in schools and universities out of the strip’s 2.2 million population. 

In its ongoing bombardment, Israel has damaged or completely destroyed all universities and more than 80 percent of all schools in Gaza. 

They have killed and wounded thousands of students and hundreds of teachers, including at least 100 professors.

This total devastation of education is a war crime within a war crime, one that will inconvenience and afflict the population for years. I remain, however, cautiously optimistic that those years will be relatively short in number because of the extreme patience, intelligence, dedication, and determination exhibited by Gazans—a people who seemingly cannot be subdued. 

Still, many of them are understandably filled with grief, fearing their “future is stolen by the war.” That quote is taken from the title of another article by one of those students, Mrs. Noor Alyacoubi, written for the Palestine Chronicle. In another must-read, she tells the stories of two Gaza university students who, like all of the others, have had their lives completely turned upside down. As Alyacoubi surmises, “Their stories reflect the broader tragedy of a generation whose education, ambitions, and futures have been stolen by war. Amid the chaos and uncertainty, their resilience and hope stand as a testament to the enduring human spirit.” Alyacoubi knows about the chaos and testament personally as she is studying English literature at Al-Azhar University. Or, rather, she was before the school was bombed by the IGF.

Mrs. Alyacoubi is also a young mother. In March, she relayed her experience trying to safeguard and raise her precious baby girl under violent occupation in a story at the We Are Not Numbers forum. “My baby is now 12 months old. Her name is Lya and she has spent 155 days of her life in fear, evacuation, and starvation. I know she is so young and she might be unaware of what is happening around her, but I am sure she feels everything.” In closing, she asks that we on the outside keep her family and her people in our prayers. If we possess any humanity at all, then we must do that if nothing else. We should also listen to some of the voices from the inside. Accordingly, I recommend readers pay attention to the many young people speaking to us through assorted personal reports, stories, and poems at We Are Not Numbers. 

After all, understanding, resisting, and resolving these matters is a process up to all of us. As the bold and brilliant Al-Mayadeen network anchor Zeinab Al Saffar said the other day at SPIEF24, quoting professor Alexander Dugin and speaking to him on-stage, “Humanity is us, not them.” It’s time we did something other than just watch things like scholasticide and genocide. How about we resist them? And stop them?

Deo vindice.