2023-05-07 21:35:00
Israeli troops destroyed a primary school in a southern West Bank town on Sunday citing security concerns, it provoked harsh criticism from the European Union, which had financed the construction of the educational establishment.
The EU representation to the Palestinians, which financed the structure, declared its “dismay” and urged Israel to “respect children’s right to education.”
According to AFP correspondents, Bulldozers moved in at dawn to destroy this small primary school in Jabet Ad Dhib, in the Bethlehem region, after a two-month court ultimatum to evacuate it expired.
As the bulldozers advanced, there was a reaction from groups of Palestinians, who threw stones, and the Israeli forces responded with tear gas.
The modest structure – one of the two schools in the town according to a municipal official – was empty and the material had been collected.
Before and after – the EU-funded Palestinian school in Jubbet Ad Dhib in the West Bank demolished by Israel this morning.
This is Israel’s reciprocation after top EU officials’ overtures and wooing of Israel’s new hardline government in the last days >> pic.twitter.com/NoBSisc9DQ
— Martin Konečný (@MartinKonecny) May 7, 2023
The school, which houses 45 boys and girls, had already been destroyed in 2019 and rebuiltsaid Ahmed Naser, a Palestinian Ministry of Education official contacted by AFP.
The Cogat, the Israeli Defense Ministry body that oversees civilian activities in the Palestinian territories, imposed a two-month deadline to vacate the school in March, following an order by a Jerusalem court.
According to this entity, the structure had been “illegally built, without permission.”
He added that it constituted “a danger to its occupants”, based on the opinion of an engineer on the risk of collapse of the building.
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