{"id":96506,"date":"2025-05-30T12:43:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T10:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/?post_type=the-new-gastronomes&p=96506"},"modified":"2025-05-30T12:43:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T10:43:23","slug":"lets-build-schools-against-war-so-we-will-save-the-future-of-the-palestinians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/lets-build-schools-against-war-so-we-will-save-the-future-of-the-palestinians\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s build schools against war. So we will save the future of the Palestinians"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sense of helplessness and frustration in the face of the daily exacerbation of what is happening in Palestine has reached extreme levels. Nevertheless, this must not push us into immobility; indignation must become action which, however small and seemingly insignificant, I believe we cannot exempt ourselves from taking.
\nInside the Gaza Strip, hunger risks killing people with the same terrible intensity and effectiveness as bombs. Everything is failing: rights, dignity, future. Among the cruelest absences, after hunger and healthcare, there is education.
\nBecause food and health guarantee survival in emergencies, but it is education that allows humanity and the possibility of a future life of quality to be preserved.
\nBeyond destruction. Beyond oppression. Beyond occupation. So I want to talk to you about a young humanity living in Khallet Taha<\/strong>, a village south of Hebron, in the West Bank<\/strong>. These are 40 boys and girls who every day must walk five kilometers to reach their school<\/strong>, and another five to return home. They walk under the sun, but above all they walk exposed to continuous physical threats and assaults by Israeli settlers living in the two neighboring settlements.<\/span><\/p>\n

But first, allow me to return for a moment with attention to Gaza<\/strong>. The siege and continuous attacks by the Israeli army, which follow Netanyahu's extermination mandate according to which the military campaign can only end with total victory over the Strip, have made the little food left a luxury item out of reach. Hunger is not a side effect of the siege; it is itself an integral part of the strategy. Blocking humanitarian aid that would bring food and water, preventing access to fuel and electricity, which are also necessary for food, is a way to turn survival into agony. Two million people are in conditions of acute food insecurity, while five hundred thousand, including seventy thousand children, are in a state of catastrophic hunger (as defined by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification indicator). This is a virtually certain death sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n

If in Gaza today people live in longing asphyxiation, the West Bank is in longing exhaustion. I say this because, following the Six-Day War in 1967, this territory began to be dotted with illegal Israeli settlements. Initially 40, which became 210 in less than 10 years, and the settlers went from 5 thousand to 55 thousand. The current situation is about 300 villages and cities (calling them settlements would indeed be reductive), with a population of over half a million. These are inhabited centers that have developed around natural resources, to monopolize water sources and fertile land. Today, Palestinians in the West Bank live in a system of widespread incarceration: confinement, checkpoints, blocked roads, the need for permits to do anything. As in Gaza, even here children often do not have time to be children. They live a childhood that cannot be defined as such due to the weight of responsibilities and the continuous violence to which they are exposed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Faced with such inhumanity, we can no longer remain spectators. We are no longer allowed to be outraged and stop there. So, when some students from the University of Pollenzo, which I preside, told me about the fundraising they are promoting together with organizations from the province of Cuneo, with the aim of building a school in the village of Khallet Taha in the West Bank, I embraced the project.
\nThe initiative was born from direct contact with an operator of the organization VIS \u2013 Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo<\/strong>, who lives precisely in the West Bank and is daily witness to what is happening. Faced with the question of what to do to be helpful, the operator's response was \"let's build something.\" Let's build while everything around is being destroyed. Thus the idea of the school was born: four classrooms for elementary school, one for kindergarten, toilets, a courtyard. A simple structure, probably prefabricated and built in a short time to cope with the urgent emergency. VIS will ensure the technical implementation and coordination in the field, in collaboration with Action Against Hunger; both are non-governmental organizations that have been working in international cooperation for decades, with extensive experience precisely in Palestine. Total cost: 90,000 euros. A figure that would allow the 40 boys and girls of the village to continue their education without putting their lives at risk and without suffering further psychological trauma.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are not just talking about bricks. We are talking about dignity, hope, resistance. This school will also be a refuge, a space where to return to being children at least for a few hours a day, as well as a point of reference for the entire community. And it will be built with the direct participation of the villagers, who will provide their labor. A way to strengthen the social fabric, to say that yes, even under occupation, even under threat, life continues demonstrating its resilience. Of course, there is a risk that the materials may be confiscated, the work blocked, the building destroyed. It has happened many times, but that is not why we can give up. The construction of this school is an act of justice, a very important political gesture. The school would represent an outpost against a system that seeks to erase the historical and cultural memory of the Palestinian people. Precisely for this reason, it is supremely important to help the inhabitants of the village of Khallet Taha not to give up, to continue to resist peacefully against oppression, and to fight for their right to live and educate their children in their land.<\/span><\/p>\n

Supporting this initiative means opposing injustice, not with slogans, but with actions. It means building, not destroying. Educating, not indoctrinating. Welcoming, not excluding.<\/span><\/p>\n

Donations can be made online by visiting the following website <\/span>https:\/\/sostieni.volint.it\/scuola_palestina\/<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

Article by Carlo Petrini, published on La Stampa, May 30 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sense of helplessness and frustration in the face of the daily exacerbation of what is happening in Palestine has reached extreme levels. Nevertheless, this must not push us into immobility; indignation must become action which, however small and seemingly insignificant, I believe we cannot exempt ourselves from taking. Inside the Gaza Strip, hunger risks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11068,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","show_related_posts":true,"relatore_articolo_journal":"","autore_articolo_journal":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}