Paper ban in Gaza Strip affects production of textbooks

The Israeli ban on deliveries of paper to Gaza is not only threatening to create a shortage of textbooks in the Strip but also shining a spotlight on what constitutes legitimate humanitarian aid. Israel is allowing in food, medicines and fuel, but not paper, even though many would see education as a vital sector. “Some 200,000 children will go into our classrooms on 1 September, and won’t have the books they need,”John Ging, the Gaza director of United Nation Relief and Works Agency, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, told IRIN. Officials in Israel, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the state is concerned the paper might be used to print books with Hamas ideology imbedded within them. Read more at IRIN News.