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AEU Federal Executive on Gaza 5th August 2014

The AEU condemns the firing of missiles, rockets and bombs by any party against civilian populations.
The conflict in Gaza is now in its fourth week. It has so far claimed the lives of more than 1700 Palestinians of whom 377 are children and 66 Israelis two of whom are civilians. Approximately one-third of the more than 6,200 Palestinians injured are children. More than 215,000 people in the Gaza Strip cannot return to their homes because of the danger of military attacks. 141 schools have been damaged.
 
The AEU condemns the firing of missiles, rockets and bombs by any party against civilian populations. However, recent indiscriminate attacks on Gaza by the Israeli defence forces have seen hundreds of children killed and schools being destroyed.
The safety and wellbeing of children and their right to education is the fundamental business of all teachers and education workers.
 
The AEU endorses Education International’s Declaration “Schools shall be safe sanctuaries” which advocates for all children to have the right to education. The Declaration calls on the international community to:
 
• prevent violations of this right;
 
• ensure the safety and security of students and teachers;
 
• prevent educational institutions being targeted or used for military purposes.
 
The AEU supports the call by ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow for “an immediate ceasefire and urgent humanitarian assistance to Gaza, followed by renewed international pressure to end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and a negotiated settlement to respect the 1967 borders between Israel and a Palestinian state. The world cannot allow the injustice to continue, nor can it accept the prospect of yet more violence causing the deaths of innocent civilians”. 
Support for Gaza: