Yanoun, Nablus — “Knowledge is light and ignorance is darkness,” says the writing on one of the walls of Yanoun Primary School. Given the school’s dismal physical condition — rundown, damaged walls, rickety tin roof and lack of a playground — the words would seem to provide little comfort to its students or teachers, but they take solace in being able to learn and teach within the school's four walls.

The co-educational school, affiliated with the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, is located in the West Bank village of Yanoun, in southeastern Nablus governorate. As it is in Area C, Israel has full administrative and security authority over the area based on the Oslo II Accord (1995). This means that the school must obtain permission from Israeli authorities to make renovations, something they have never been granted.

Although the village takes its name from the Canaanite word for “calm” or “serene,” life in Yanoun has been anything but. Situated amid five Israeli settlements — Gedonim, Givat ‘Alam and settlements 777, 776 and 778 —Yanoun has had to battle for survival.

In 2002, Yanoun residents had to flee their homes after residents of the nearby Israeli settlements entered the village, beat them and killed their animals. Some returned a few years later with the assistance of peace activists from the volunteer organization Ta’ayush and the International Solidarity Movement, but security, and economic, problems continued.