Beit Hanina Vocational Training graduation

THE GRASSROOTS PALESTINIAN ANTI-APARTHEID WALL CAMPAIGN
Telephone: 02- 2971505 Fax: 02-2975123 Jerusalem Road, Ramallah

INVITATION TO THE PUBLIC

The Lutheran World Federation – Vocational Training Center in Beit Hanina invites the public to their special graduation ceremony:

MONDAY, July 3, 2006
at 11:00 AM – in the VTC, Beit Hanina

The ceremony is part of the Palestinian resistance to the racist Occupation policies of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem.

The isolation of Jerusalem is threatening the mere survival of the vocational training center which has run steadily since 1949 and aims to destroy yet another historical Palestinian educational institute. Your presence will be crucial support for the determination of the management to stay committed to their mission to ensure the right to education for Palestinians in Jerusalem. Moreover, it helps to secure the continued existence of Palestinians in their capital.

Beit Hanina is torn apart by the Apartheid Wall and isolated by Israel’s racist permit policies. Many students and teachers coming from villages and towns surrounding the Palestinian capital are no longer able to access the Center as permits are systematically denied.
Even before the completion of the Apartheid Wall through the neighborhood of the Vocational Training Center (VTC), Israeli forces increased their harassment of our staff and students without Jerusalem ID cards via flying checkpoints near the VTC. Students were forbidden to reach the VTC due to lack of permits.

The recent decision of the Occupation Authorities to cancel permits for the majority of students and staff directly challenges the future of the vocational program in Beit Hanina, a program providing real opportunities for the youth to overcome poverty. The educational and vocational program has evolved over many decades to a high standard that meets the needs of its students in terms of social and emotional welfare, personal enrichment, civic responsibility, education and employability.

Though the VTC has placed enormous efforts into continuing its work, students are de facto prevented from pursuing their studies and training. Students are unable to finish the academic year. Students that want to apply for the coming year will not have the possibility to reach the VTC. The vicious permit system bars more and more students from access to education and their capital, and undermines the ability of the Lutheran World Federation to continue to provide its humanitarian services to underprivileged youth.

The case of the vocational training centre in Beit Hanina is a common tragedy in Jerusalem where schools, hospitals and other service centres for Palestinians are closing. Sealing off of the city from its people has devastating social, economic and cultural effects for Jerusalem and is subjecting Palestinians to life in caged-in ghettos.

Jerusalem hosts 5 vocational training colleges, with only 1-2 vocational training institutes located in each West Bank city. The heritage of Jerusalem is left under severe threat as Palestinians – who have been at the centre of life in the city for centuries – are cleansed from their capital and closed into disparate and unviable Bantustans.

Join the struggle of Palestinian institutions for Jerusalem!

StopTheWall.org
Visit the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign web site.

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