Zionist regime demolishes EU-funded Palestinian school in West Bank

The illegal Zionist entity has demolished a European Union-funded Palestinian primary school in the central part of the West Bank as the Tel Aviv regime presses ahead with its land theft policies and illegal settlement expansion on the occupied territories.

The Palestinian Information Center reported Thursday that the bulldozers escorted by Israeli forces tore down the school, east of the West Bank city of Ramallah. 

The school serves 50 students, from the Bedouin Ras al-Teen community, who otherwise would have to walk around five kilometers to access the school in nearby Al-Mughayyer village.  

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) announced on Wednesday that it was deeply concerned about the Israeli military’s planned demolition. 

“These are some of the most vulnerable children, whose life is already extremely hard, and Israel as the occupying power has a duty to ensure that they get their education and basic services,” said NRC Regional Director Carsten Hansen. 

“Instead, it uses its power to do the opposite, denying them their fundamental right to education and paving the way for illegal settlement expansion.”

The European Union, several of its member states, and the United Kingdom had provided humanitarian funding for the construction of the school.

The school opened at the beginning of the academic year over a month ago, and the Israeli authorities notified the building of demolition under the pretext of building without a license. However, the Palestinian inhabitants were able to obtain a precautionary order to freeze the demolition for a period of 30 days.

The Israeli military had already confiscated construction materials and tools on four occasions between August 31 and September 10 under the pretext that the structure lacked an Israeli-issued building permit.

According to the Education Cluster, a forum that coordinates the humanitarian education response, the illegal entity has partially or fully demolished three schools in the West Bank so far this year, and 52 other schools are under threat of demolition.  

In 2019, the Education Cluster recorded 328 education-related incidents, involving access restrictions, attacks on students and staff, and destruction of education infrastructure.

Since the beginning of this year, the United Nations revealed that the Israeli authorities had demolished 555 facilities in West Bank, including al-Quds.

SS