Palestinian pupil Mariam al-Habbash is worried about the prospect of spending yet another cold winter semester in a cluster of rusty caravans that make up her school in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. ?In summer, we melt inside the caravans and in winter it is cold and the ceiling leaks,? said the veiled 15-year-old. Habbash?s school in the village of Mawasi neighbours Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and overlooks the border with Egypt.

Teachers and students at the school blamed Palestinian leaders for failing to make good on promises to build concrete classrooms and said a stifling Israeli blockade on the impoverished territory made things worse. Human rights groups and the UN have urged Israel to lift the restrictions, citing worsening economic conditions and endemic poverty.

Under a truce brokered by Egypt in June, Israel has been gradually easing the blockade. ?Many people visit us but the visits are useless,? Habbash said. This is the only caravan school in Palestine. Some 450 students attend the school whose all-boys and all-girls sections are separated by barbed wire. Boys play soccer in schoolyard that turns muddy in winter. ?The school is a tragedy... there is no proper class environment and that has a negative effect on the children?, teacher Samir Ashour said from a caravan that serves as a teacher?s room. Another serves as a library. ?There is no place to escape the heat and in winter when it rains students and teachers can?t communicate because of the noise made by the falling rain.? Pupil Niveen Farhat said she feared the rusty metal ceiling could fall on their heads. ?We want a school like all schools and not a school of caravans.?

<B>Nidal AL-MUGHRABI</B>