Around 4 a.m. this morning a group of militants identifying themselves as part of a Gaza-based al-Qaeda organization attacked the American International School of Gaza.  After incapacitating the guards of the school, the masked gunmen set off three explosive devices in two of the buildings of the school — the only international school in the Gaza strip.  There were no casualties, but most of the furniture on campus was destroyed in the ensuing fire. 

The American International School of Gaza bears a remarkably similar name to that of the institution where I teach, although the U.S. Embassy denies any affiliation and the school does not employ any American teachers.  It is called an American school because it is a member of the consortium of American schools in the Middle East that stress the study of English in addition to Arabic studies. 

This private, kindergarten-through-high-school institution, which was only opened in the fall of 2000, has a slightly neglected but optimistic website.  Two teachers were reported to have been kidnapped from the school in 2006 and the school has repeatedly been damaged by Israeli-Palestinian clashes throughout the years. 

It outrages me to see institutions of education targeted by Islamic groups in their own communities.  The United Nations reports that the unemployment rate in Gaza runs at 36 percent.  Eighty percent of Gazans are under the poverty line and 34 percent of Palestinians earn less than $1.60 per day. Education is one of the most valuable resources of any community, and the availability of education is especially imperative for this population to equip themselves with the means to organize effective self-government to actively combat their deplorable social conditions and the injustices suffered as an occupied population. The American School of Gaza, although it promotes the learning of English, is not affiliated in any way with the United States government and places an obvious stress on Arabic studies.  Taking a look at the roster of educators employed at the school, four teachers are devoted to Arabic/religious studies — the greatest number of teachers on the entire roster dedicated to one subject.  Of the 30 teachers on the list, there is not a single non-Arabic name.  Who were these militants hoping to influence with this senseless act of destruction?  Just as clashes between opposing Palestinian factions caused immense damage to the Islamic University of Gaza in February — the first higher education institution to be established in Gaza — who does this type of destruction impair except for the very population it is meant to benefit? 

Jackie Kim