Gaza Students Take Exams Amid Fighting

Palestinian students take part in the first day of their final exams, at the Palestine School in Gaza City, Monday, June 11, 2007. The debilitating violence in Gaza has deeply affected all aspects of life here, but the damage it is causing to children's education has Palestinians worried about the foundation of their society. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) (Hatem Moussa - AP)

Students from the Israeli town of Sderot were bused out of range of Palestinian Qassam rockets Monday to take their own social studies exams in relative safety. Five rockets and mortar shells hit southern Israel during the day.

"It is hard to study when you have no quiet, but we manage somehow, we just worked a little harder," said Or Romano, an Israeli who took his test in the nearby town of Ofakim.

Revital Gordon, an Israeli teacher, said she was happy that students were able to take exams. "But on the other hand it's not a simple life in Sderot, the Qassams, the pressures, the fears. It's a mixed feeling," she added.

Palestinian students were in despair over the chaos in Gaza.

"I'm tense. I am tired. The situation, the shooting. We didn't know how to study," said student Mohammed Abu Sido as he prepared to enter a Gaza City school to take his exam. "When we came to school there were checkpoints, and we arrived _ by a miracle."

Ahmad Ghufari said he was having trouble memorizing. "I don't think the situation will allow me to do well, but I'll do what I can, despite the difficulties," he said.

Another student, Mohammed Arabid, was kidnapped by masked militants as he returned home after his exams, his father said on a Hamas-affiliated radio station. His family claimed he was taken because he had a beard, a sign of religious piety, and because he is from a Hamas loyalist family. By Monday evening, Arabid's family still had no information on his whereabouts.

Jamil Abu Saadeh, an Education Ministry official responsible for the school curriculum, said officials had already cut out 10 percent to 15 percent of the final exams because the students lost 29 days of classes due to a teachers' strike over unpaid salaries.

Abbas said that despite the violence, he believed students would succeed in their exams. "The youth are decisive about continuing their exams and in school," he said.

But Mai Naji, Daliya's mother, was not so sure.

"When we were living under the occupation we were able to have our exams, but now I don't know if my little girl will be able to finish the exams or not," she said, blaming the rival Palestinian factions. "You don't know when they will start the crazy war game again."

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Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak contributed to this story.