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Tamir. Visited Sderot
Photo: Sasson Tiram
Last Qassam hit, Thursday
Photo: Tsafrir Abayov

Sderot parents storm Tamir's meeting with principals

Education minister arrives at rocket-battered town in bid to discuss options for opening new school year under fire. As she meets with local school principals, several parents break into meeting, demand answers

A number of parents in the rocket-battered town of Sderot interrupted a meeting held between Education Minister Yuli Tamir and local school principals on Friday morning.

 

Tamir arrived at the southern town ahead of the new school year as part of a series of meetings held in a bid to calm the tense atmosphere and discuss options for opening the school year under fire.

 

Following her meetings with Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal, local school principals, parents' committee members and representatives of the Home Front Command, Tamir declared that the school year will be opened as planned.  

 

In the meeting it was decided that six new schools would be built in the city and that the schools' bomb shelters would be renovated.

 

During the visit, several parents who are not members of the Sderot parents' committee broke into the room where the meeting was taking place. Education Ministry workers even claimed that they violently pushed by some of the parents.

 

Tamir's security guards were forced to remove the parents from the room, and a number of police officers and security guards were dispatched to the area. The education minister later also met with the parents' committee members.

 

Tamir's aides expressed their regret over the incident, saying that the minister had visited the city a number of times throughout the year and will continue to do so until the crisis in the town's education system is solved.

 

'Did she come here in order to protect herself?'

One of the parents who entered the meeting was Rina Mor-Yosef, a well-known activist in Sderot, who decided to protest "in a spontaneous manner".

 

"This morning I heard the Education Ministry director-general giving an interview about Sderot and saying that the army is responsible for Sderot's education system and not the Education Ministry. I was very angry and that's why I broke in. I wanted to know why the defense minister didn't arrive for the meeting if the defense establishment was responsible.

 

"Did the minister come here in order to defend herself against the next commission of inquiry, or does she want to keep her position? I asked to enter and talk to the minister. They didn't let me in, so I broke in. I am the mother of children here in Sderot and they are trying to turn us into monsters, when all we want to do is protect our children's lives. I don’t know if the minister even knows that there is no transportation to the school where my daughter studies."

 

In the meeting with the minister, the parents' committee demanded that all education institutions be fortified. They asked that Defense Minister Ehud Barak sign a document guaranteeing Sderot children's safety.

 

The parents also demanded that the minister interfere with the municipality's decision not to let children study outside the city.Earlier, the minister examined bomb shelters and reinforced rooms that could be used as classrooms.

 

On Wednesday, the High Court decided to postpone its ruling on mandatory fortification for all schools in Sderot until after the school year starts.

 

In doing so, the court would allow the State, which petitioned for the delay of the fortification by three years, a chance to rebut Sderot's Parents Association's petition for the immediate fortification of the city's schools.

 

In response to the court's decision, the parents' committee threatened to prevent the start of the school year.

 

Moran Zelikovich contributed to this report

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.24.07, 12:37
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