Israel demolishes Palestinian school, drawing EU rebuke

Israeli forces on Sunday demolished a Palestinian primary school in the occupied West Bank, citing safety issues and drawing sharp 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 consisted of five classrooms.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. The territory is home to around 2.9 million Palestinians. Around 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 cleared out of their contents before the demolition, an AFP correspondent said.

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

The body had determined that the school had been “built illegally” and posed a “safety hazard”.

Ahmed Naser, a Palestinian education ministry official, told AFP the school had replaced another demolished by Israel in 2019.

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”.