30.06.2004
Israel’s Separation Wall Will Isolate Crucial Training Center in Jerusalem
Israel’s building of its separation wall near a vocational training center in Jerusalem will prevent young people from the West Bank from receiving training there.“The separation wall will isolate the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Vocational Training Center (VTC) from the West Bank,” says the center’s director, Randa Hilal.
On June 6, the Israeli army blocked the three side roads leading to the center, and started building the separation wall near the center on the main road from Al-Ram to Bait-Hanina Blockade. The wall is made up of more than 140 km of concrete barriers and fences built around several Palestinian areas in Jerusalem to separate them from the city and to separate Jerusalem from the West Bank.
Through the LWF Department for World Service (DWS) Jerusalem program, youth from across the West Bank and Palestinian areas around Jerusalem come to the VTC to learn skills in electronics, plumbing, automobile maintenance and other trades. Following two years of training, trainees are assisted in finding employment.
Hilal says that when the wall is completed near the center, only 24 percent of the trainees and 18 percent of the trainers will have access to the institution. She points out that “quality training opportunities for youth are minimal in the West Bank and have not increased, although the number of youth is increasing.” (230 words)
(From a News Update of Action by Churches International.)
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