The EU expressed its “appalment” at the school it funded being demolished, stating that such actions are against international law and that “children’s right to education must be respected.”
A Palestinian primary school in the occupied West Bank was destroyed by Israeli forces on Sunday, citing safety concerns. The European Union, which had funded the project, was outraged by the action and issued a strong statement of condemnation.
As bulldozers encroached on the site at Jabbet al-Dhib village near Bethlehem, Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli forces, who responded by shooting tear gas at them.
The arrival of Israeli forces at the school site at dawn, where a Palestinian Authority official claimed 45 students were enrolled and five classrooms were present, shocked the EU, which expressed its “appalling” reaction.
Since the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel has controlled the West Bank. About 2.9 million Palestinians reside on the territory. In state-approved settlements that are deemed illegal by international law, about 475,000 Jewish settlers also reside there.
Before being demolished, an AFP correspondent reported that a trailer and some tin-sided classrooms had been cleaned out of their contents.
Following an order from a Jerusalem court, COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body in charge of overseeing civilian matters in the occupied territories, imposed a two-month deadline to leave the property in March.
Illegal as Ever!
The group had concluded that the school was “built illegally” and presented a “safety hazard”.
A representative of the Palestinian education ministry named Ahmed Naser stated that the school had succeeded another one that Israel destroyed in 2019.
Naser claimed that Israel “wants to confiscate these lands” because of its remote location, which he said prevents the “displacement and forced eviction” of local Palestinians.
“Halt all demolitions and evictions, which will only increase the suffering of the Palestinian population and further escalate an environment that is already tense,” the EU demanded of Israel.
The statement issued by the EU representative to the Palestinian Territories stated, “Demolitions are illegal under international law, and children’s right to education must be respected.”
In January, a gathering of Joined Countries specialists had called for activity to stop Israel’s “orderly and purposeful” destruction of Palestinian structures.
“Direct goes after on the Palestinian public’s homes, schools, jobs and water sources are only Israel’s endeavors to shorten the Palestinians’ on the whole right to self-assurance and to compromise their actual presence,” the specialists said in an explanation.
Mubarak Zawahrah, top of the Beit Tamar neighborhood gathering where the school was found, told AFP Israeli specialists had concurred a stay on the destruction forthcoming a court claim on Wednesday.
“In any case, that’s what the Israeli armed force overlooked and just annihilated it,” he said.
The official from the education ministry, Naser, stated that the demolished structures would be replaced by a tent and basic infrastructure on Monday.
