Adalah Demands Safe Road to the "Rashedia" Arab Elementary School in Lod

The road to the “Rashedia” elementary school

On 28 August 2012, Adalah sent a letter to Meir Nitzan, head of the Appointed Committee in Lod (the Municipality), and to the Regional Director of the Ministry of Education, Soli Natan, demanding the immediate establishment of a safe access road leading to the "Rashedia" School in Lod. Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher sent the letter on behalf of the parents’ committee of the school, emphasizing that the current hazardous conditions of the road endanger the welfare of both the students and the parents who accompany them to school.

"Alrashedia" is an elementary school attended by Arab children located in the Neve Yerek neighborhood in Lod. 700 children, all under the age of 11, study at the school. The road leading to the school is 200 meters long and includes wide junctions, sharp turns and an exit to the highway. The one-way road is narrow and serves as the city's entrance and exit road; it has no safety rim, no sidewalks, and no pedestrian crossings or any other safe passageway.

Notably, the road is also full of truck and bus traffic because it leads to the city's northern industrial zone. Further, it is the only route that most of the children can take in order to reach their school. Due to this, the children are exposed to traffic hazards and severe, concrete and immediate threats to their safety on their way to and from the school.

Attorney Zaher argued in the letter that "the absence of a safe access road to the school violates the constitutional rights of the children, first and foremost, the right to life and to a safe, accessible education free of a substantial, tangible safety hazard." These rights are anchored in the Basic Laws and the Compulsory Education Law, and they are protected by the prior rulings of the Supreme Court.