A school in the West Bank built with EU funds has been destroyed by Israeli authorities. Israel claims it was built illegally. Representatives of the European Union criticize the approach.
According to Palestinian sources, Israeli authorities have destroyed a school financed with EU funds in a village near Bethlehem. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli soldiers, accompanied by bulldozers, entered the southern West Bank village early in the morning.
This led to confrontations with residents. The responsible Israeli Cogat authority stated that the building had been erected without the necessary permits. Because of the danger of collapse, a court ordered the destruction. From Monday the students will now be taught in a tent.
EU condemns demolition as “illegal”
The Al-Tahadi school was said to have been destroyed in 2017 and then rebuilt. In March, an Israeli court granted the request of a right-wing Israeli organization and ordered the demolition to be repeated. Bassam Jabr, who is responsible for education in the Bethlehem area, said Wafa that around 60 students from the 1st to 4th grade studied at the school.
The European Union condemned the demolition of the school. “The EU has followed this case closely and has asked the Israeli authorities not to carry out the demolition, which will directly affect 81 children and their education,” said a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Brussels. Demolitions are illegal under international law and children’s right to education must be respected.
The EU calls on Israel to end all demolitions and displacements, which only add to the suffering of the Palestinian people and fuel tensions on the ground.
The EU representation in the Palestinian territories had previously expressed “appalled” at the destruction. “Israel should stop all demolitions and evictions that only increase the suffering of the Palestinian people,” it said in a tweet. They continued to escalate the already tense situation.
The tense situation continues to escalate
Israel consistently demolishes Palestinian homes and buildings in the West Bank and East Jerusalem when they are built without Israeli permission. Homes belonging to relatives of Palestinian assassins are also being demolished. Israel calls this deterrence.
Human rights activists criticize this practice as collective punishment. Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. The Palestinians are demanding the areas for their own state – with East Jerusalem as the capital.