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Palestinian students walk to school using an alternate route that is nearly twice as long as a direct route because a fence separates their village from the nearby Israeli settlement of Carmel, near the West Bank village of Umm al-Khair, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

For three days a week, Mahdi Daraghmeh sends his three kids, 6, 8 and 13 years old, off to elementary school.

The rest of the week, though, the school is shuttered, leaving the kids staring at screens at their northern Jordan Valley home rather than learning in a classroom.

“They’re on smartphones and playing games,” Daraghmeh told the Times of Israel.…