RAMALLAH -September 28, 2002: On the second anniversary of the Palestinian Intifada, several educators, parents and schoolchildren in occupied cities across the West Bank observed the occasion by insisting on opening schools for learning despite the strict Israeli military curfew imposed on most of the West Bank.

"The Palestinians will relentlessly defend their right to education" is the message sent to the occupiers in this non-confrontational and non-violent form of resistance.

JARAS--Arabic for bell--is one of several grassroots initiatives launched throughout the West Bank specifically to advocate and organize opening the schools despite the curfews. JARAS issues the Education Denial Index (EDI), which measures the ratio of school days lost due to the military curfew to the total number of school days from the official beginning of the Palestinian school year on August 31, 2002.

The EDI in Ramallah today stands at 0.48. This means that 48% of all the school days this year have been lost due to the Israeli military curfews. In Nablus, the EDI is close to 1.0, which indicates total education denial.

One of the main driving forces behind this widespread, mostly spontaneous defiance of the curfews is the devastating outcome of Israel's prolonged closures of Palestinian schools during the first Intifada (1987-1993). An entire generation of Palestinian children and youth lost the opportunity to learn during that period, whereby many eventually failed to realize their potential and ended up becoming illiterate, or semi-literate, lacking the basic academic skills needed for later development. Palestinians have vowed never to let this happen to yet another generation.

JOIN JARAS IN PROTESTING ISRAELI VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES.

Write letters of protest to:

Ariel Sharon, Israeli Prime Minister: Email: rohm@pmo.gov.il or webmaster@pmo.gov.il Fax: (02) 651- 2631

Benjamin Ben Eliezer, Israeli Minister of Defense: Email: sgansar@mod.gov.il

Shimon Peres, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs: Fax: (02) 530-3367 Email: sar@mfa.gov.il