Militants bomb Gaza school in anti-Western campaign
In the latest in a campaign of attacks on Western and secular targets, masked Muslim gunmen bombed the American International School in the northern Gaza Strip at the weekend, causing damage estimated at more than £100,000.
That Israel isn't Western and secular or perhaps it is?
After all, only "militants" attack Israelis, right?
Bit unclear.
Maybe that's because Eric SWilver is signed on as the correspondent?
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According to Isabel Kershner in the New York Times http://tinyurl.com/2kl67k :
"The American International School in Gaza was established as a local private enterprise and opened shortly before the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000. It promotes American-style education and received $160,000 this year from the State Department to finance scholarships for needy students, according to Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, a spokeswoman at the United States Consulate in Jerusalem.
The school, which charges $2,000 to $4,000 a year, is beyond the means of most Gazans, and as a result it is not profitable. There are 150 students enrolled at the school, which has a teaching staff of 30, all local Palestinians. The last foreign staff members left about a year ago because of the deteriorating security situation."
So, I suppose you could say the school is "western" AND "secular".
Ah - that last bit, "deteriorating security situation" was in March 2006, when members of the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) attacked the school (where children of PFLP terrorists were enrolled), abducted two teachers, shot two local staff members and generally caused much mayhem, enough so that the entire foreign staff was spirited out of Gaza to Israel (where it was safe for them).
suzanne
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