Palestinian pupil Mariam al-Habbash is worried about the prospect of spending yet another cold winter semester in a cluster of rusty caravans that make up her school in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The pupils in Gaza  are worried about cold winter under the rusty metal ceiling of the caravan school. Meanwhile, another Gazan school face Israeli fire which seemed random and causeless and wounded serioudly a 17 years-old student.

Palestinian pupil Mariam al-Habbash is also worried about the prospect of spending yet another cold winter semester in a cluster of rusty caravans that make up her school in the Gaza Strip.

Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza two years ago and its restrictions made things worse including schools.

"In summer we melt inside the caravans and in winter it is cold and the ceiling leaks," said the veiled 15-year-old.

Habbash’s school is located in the village of Mawasi that neighbours the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and overlooks the border with Egypt, Reuters reported.

Teachers and students at the school complained that Palestinian leaders failed to make good on promises to build concrete classrooms because of Israeli blockade imposed on the impoverished territory.

Human rights groups and the United Nations have urged Israel to lift the restrictions, citing worsening economic conditions and endemic poverty.

"Many people visit us but the visits are useless," Habbash said. "This is the only caravans school in Palestine."

"The school is a tragedy… there is no proper class environment and that has a negative effect on the children," teacher Samir Ashour said from a caravan that serves as a teacher’s room. Another caravan serves as a library.

"There is no place to escape the heat and in winter when it rains students and teachers can’t communicate because of the noise made by the falling rain," said Ashour.

Pupil Niveen Farhat said she feared the rusty metal ceiling could one day "fall on our heads."

 "We want a school like all schools and not a school of caravans."

Israel imposed a siege on the Gaza Strip after Hamas won a parliamentary election in 2006. The Jewish state tightened strongly the blockade a year ago when Hamas seized control of Gaza after.

Some 450 students attend the school. Boys play soccer in schoolyard that turns into a muddy swamp in winter.

Meanwhile, Israel opened fire on a school wounded serioudly a student in the southern Gaza Strip.

Aziza Qudeih, a 17-year-old student in Khan Younis sustained serious wounds after she was hit with Israeli fire at her school, reported Maan news agency.

Israeli forces opened fire of Qudeih along with several Palestinian farmers on Monday morning in a field next to Khuza’a secondary school. The young woman was evacuated to local hospital.

Eyewitnesses reported that the fire seemed random and causeless, as the farmers tended olive trees and students walked to class.

Palestinian factions see such assaults as violation of the truce between Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip. Another violation was recorded a few days ago when Israeli warships fired at fishermen in their boats in Rafah, no casualties were reported.

www.worldbulletin.net

Read More »Caravan students fear winter as Isaraeli fire on Gazan school

 Yemeni authorities have declared the provinces a disaster area and Saleh has toured some of the worst affected regions.

About 100 people are dead or missing in Yemen after severe flooding caused by torrential rain affected large areas of the country in the past few days, a government official said on Sunday.

Television pictures showed survivors signalling to rescue helicopters in the provinces of Hadramout and Mahra which suffered 30 hours of heavy rain.

"About 7,000 people have been made homeless and there are about 100 dead or missing. We are still trying to gather more exact figures but communications with some of the affected areas have been cut off," the Yemeni official told Reuters.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh called on Sunday for parliament to approve 20 billion rials ($100 million) in emergency funding for rescue operations and to help rebuild areas affected by the most serious flooding in decades.

Yemeni authorities have declared the provinces a disaster area and Saleh has toured some of the worst affected regions.

Situated at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen is prone to flooding during the monsoon season.

Reuters

Read More »About 100 dead or missing after floods in yemen

 Instead, buoyed by a festive atmosphere, Muslims and Christians ate donor kebabs, drank tea and chatted together.

The opening of Germany’s biggest mosque on Sunday is intended to help break down barriers between Turks and Germans and ease sometimes strained community relations, politicians and Muslims said on Sunday.

About 8,000 people joined celebrations in the Marxloh suburb of the industrial north-western city of Duisburg to mark the opening of the Merkez mosque, with its 34-metre high minaret and room for 1,200 worshippers.

Germany’s biggest mosque opens in the Ruhr valley city of Duisburg in what leaders of Germany’s 3 million Muslims have described as a watershed moment, bringing mosques out of the backyards and alleys and into the middle of urban life.

In contrast to openings of mosques elsewhere in Germany, notably one in Berlin earlier this month which drew heavy protests from local residents, the ceremony went off with no demonstrations.

Instead, buoyed by a festive atmosphere, Muslims and Christians ate donor kebabs, drank tea and chatted together.

"We have nothing to hide so it is time to say goodbye to our mosques which were hidden in backyards," said Mehmet Ozay, head of the Ditib Turkish-Islamic Union in Marxloh, at the opening ceremony.

"I can assure you that this beautiful new mosque is quite safe, it is not a symbol of social division in Germany but a symbol of the benefits of human, religious, cultural and social interaction," he said.

"The fact that we’ve been allowed to build a mosque is a sign for us that the community is telling us ‘you’re accepted’," said Mustafa Kücük, a spokesman for the Merkez mosque.

Ditib initiated the project. The cost of building the mosque amounted to roughly 7.5 million euros, about half of which was funded by the EU and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The ornate interior is decorated in gold, turquoise, red and white paint and golden chandeliers hang from the ceiling.

The mosque, designed by German architects Paul and Gottfried Böhm, will be a domed building with glass walls and two minarets. The minarets will be 180 feet tall, one-third the height of the towers of the Cologne Cathedral. The mosque will also be flanked by tall office buildings. DITIB has agreed not to broadcast the call to prayer over loudspeakers.

Germany is home to about 3.2 million Muslims, most of whom are Turks and integration has jumped up the political agenda in the last few years.

Germany took on cheap labour from Turkey after the end of World War Two to help rebuild its economy and many workers settled here. The industrial Ruhr area, where Duisburg is located, has a particularly strong Turkish community.

However, younger generations have started to form separate communities and many Turkish youngsters have poor German which limits their job prospects.

Many Muslims complain of Islamphobia and many Germans have spoken out against the building of new mosques.

Conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel has said minarets should not be any taller than church steeples.

Juergen Ruettgers, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said the mosque should serve to improve relations. "Not everyone who has a strong foundation of belief is a fundamentalist," said Ruettgers, a senior member of Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats.

Agencies

Read More »Muslims enjoy opening of germanys biggest mosque

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