EU condemns Israel after Palestinian school is demolished

Israeli authorities said the school was unsafe, but locals say army ignored appeals to save the building

Palestinian pupils stand on the rubble after Israeli bulldozers demolished a school near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Reuters

Israeli forces on Sunday demolished a Palestinian primary school in the occupied West Bank, citing safety issues and drawing criticism from the European Union, which had funded the project.

Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli forces who fired tear gas at them as bulldozers moved in on the site at Jabbet Al Dhib village near Bethlehem.

The EU said it was “appalled” after Israeli forces arrived at dawn at the school site, which a Palestinian Authority official said served 45 students and comprised five classrooms.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 war. The territory is home to about 2.9 million Palestinians. About 475,000 Jewish settlers also live there in state-approved settlements considered illegal under international law.

A trailer and classrooms constructed of tin sheeting were emptied before the demolition.

COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the occupied territories, in March imposed a two-month deadline to vacate the premises following an order by a Jerusalem court.

COGAT determined that the school had been built illegally and was a safety hazard.

Ahmed Naser, a Palestinian Education Ministry official, said the school had replaced another demolished by Israel in 2019.

Mr Naser noted its remote location, which he said prevents the “displacement and forced eviction” of local Palestinians, charging that Israel “wants to confiscate these lands”.

The EU called on Israel to “halt all demolitions and evictions, which will only increase the suffering of the Palestinian population and further escalate an already tense environment”.

“Demolitions are illegal under international law, and children's right to education must be respected,” the office of the EU representative to the Palestinian Territories said in a statement.

COGAT said that authorities had attempted a dialogue with the school's owners and quoted an engineer who determined the structure could collapse at any time.

In January, a group of UN experts had called for action to stop Israel's “systematic and deliberate” demolition of Palestinian structures.

“Direct attacks on the Palestinian people's homes, schools, livelihoods and water sources are nothing but Israel's attempts to curtail the Palestinians' right to self-determination and to threaten their very existence,” the experts said in a statement.

Mubarak Zawahrah, head of the Beit Tamar local council, where the school was located, said Israeli authorities had agreed a stay on the demolition pending a court appeal on Wednesday.

“But the Israeli army ignored that and just demolished it,” he said.

Mr Naser said a tent would be set up on Monday on the site with basic infrastructure to replace the demolished structures.

COGAT and Israeli group Regavim said the demolition was the result of a petition filed by the right-wing organisation whose mission, according to its website, includes “the protection of Israel's national lands”.

Regavim in statement accused Palestinians of using the school's construction “against the law” to manufacture “a humanitarian crisis”.