European missions demand end to Israel’s West Bank demolitions, confiscations

A consortium of diplomatic missions across Europe has called on the Israeli regime to halt its demolition of structures built with humanitarian assistance across the occupied West Bank as well as the confiscation of donor-funded items.

In a press statement released on Friday, the missions, led by the Office of the European Union Representative to the West Bank and Gaza, strongly condemned the Tel Aviv regime’s recent demolition of a donor-funded school in the Palestinian village of Jubbet ad-Dhib and expressed grave concerns about the threatened razing of another 57 West Bank schools.

“The consortium of missions call on Israel, as the occupying power, to halt all confiscations and demolitions and to give unimpeded access to humanitarian organizations in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem (al-Quds).”

“Through official channels, the missions have called on Israel to return or compensate for all humanitarian items ... The total value of donor-funded items, which have been demolished, dismantled or confiscated since 2015, is estimated at 1,291,000 EUR” or almost $1.4 million.

The European Diplomatic missions also raised the alarm at the impending forced expulsion of more than 1,000 Palestinians from the Masafer Yatta region of the southern West Bank. 

In May 2022, after a two-decade legal dispute, the Israeli regime’s High Court of Justice ruled against the Palestinian villagers residing in the 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) Masafer Yatta.

It accepted the regime's claim that the residents began squatting in the area after it was declared a firing zone by the occupying regime’s military in 1981.

Masafer Yatta residents say that Palestinian families have been permanently residing there since before Israel occupied the West Bank, in the 1967 war, and that their eviction would constitute a breach of international law.

The ruling clears the way for the eviction of over 1,000 Palestinians from the region, sparking criticisms by the United Nations, the European Union and Israeli-based rights groups.

MG