Occupied West Bank: When a walk to school is fraught with fear

For the Palestinian children of Lubban Ash-Sharqiya near Nablus, walking to school is a dangerous journey.

Luban Ash-Sharqiya, Occupied West Bank – Travelling to and from school is a normal, relatively straightforward activity for most children across the world.

But for kids from the Israeli-occupied West Bank village of Luban Ash-Sharqiya, south of Nablus, it is a game of cat and mouse, as they try to avoid Israeli settlers and soldiers on the roads leading from their school to their village.

Luban Ash-Sharqiya is home to about 3,500 Palestinians, 20km south of the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank. Two illegal Israeli settlements, Eli and Ma’ale Levona, straddle the sides of the village and are built on land belonging to it.