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Israel shuts down Palestinian school in E. Jerusalem over "ties to Hamas"

Xinhua, February 23, 2017 Adjust font size:

Israeli authorities on Thursday ordered to close a Palestinian elementary school in East Jerusalem claiming it was linked to Hamas, Israel's Education Ministry said in a statement.

About 220 pupils study in the al-Nukbah private school today. The school is located in Sur Baher, a Palestinian neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem.

The closure order was issued by the ministries of education and internal security after the Supreme Court rejected a petition by the school, saying the institution was opened without receiving a permit from Israel.

"Hamas officials are standing behind the school," the Education Ministry said in a statement without elaborating. "According to information received by the Ministry, the school had an intention to teach contents that undermine the sovereignty of the State of Israel," the statement read.

Education Minister Naftali Bennet, who is also the leader of the hardline Jewish Home Party, said that last year his ministry fired headmasters who "incited" against Israel and "we will not hesitate to close schools too."

Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It later annexed East Jerusalem and declared it as part of its "eternal" capital, in a move that has never been recognized by the international community. Endit