Bombing of American school: Gaza's latest nightmare

The building in which the American International School in Gaza is situated is no longer beautiful. The damage can be seen in many corners of the school -- in the front door, in the director's office, in the cafeteria or in the computer room.

"We have become Iraq," a dusty man said while bending down on the floor, trying to clear away the debris from an explosion that rocked the school early Saturday morning.

The principal's office only contains torn apart chairs and shelves, with black big spots on the walls; the cafeteria's chairs are now black, while the computer room is no longer hi-tech.

Ribhi Salem, the school's principal and director general, whose office was blown up early this morning, expressed regret over what happened to his school.

"I received a phone call around 3 o'clock in the morning from the guards, telling me that a quite large number of masked gunmen stormed the school and arrested the guards, confiscated their cell phones, belongings and keys, then kept them in an isolated room.

"After half an hour, the masked men broke into the administration office and stole a large number of computers, scanners and printers; they spilled fuel and then they bombed the director's office and the cafeteria, after they had already kept the guards about 400 meters away in an open area."

The school's principal confirmed that his school's curriculum is an American one.

"We call this school the 'international American school' because we believe that the American curriculum is the best in the world and we want our children to be exposed to such a wonderful curriculum. We have nothing to do with American foreign policy; we have no ties with any American officials. I cannot imagine why this happened to our school."

The school's principal commented on the recent Palestinian security plan: "as any ordinary Palestinian resident, I only hear about security plans, while I see nothing on the ground; I call upon the Palestinian presidency and government to assume their responsibilities."

Palestinian interior security minister, Hani Qawasmi, launched last week a security plan across the Palestinian territories, in a bid to contain internal unrest. Despite such an announcement, a series of bombings and attacks have taken place, the latest of which was the attack on the educational institution.

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