IDF destroys two illegal EU-funded Palestinian schools

B’Tselem said that Civil Administration’s actions left 80 elementary school pupils in Jub a-Dib without any place to study near their homes.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Updated: AUGUST 24, 2017 00:38
The scene of an illegal EU-funded school demolished by the IDF (photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
The scene of an illegal EU-funded school demolished by the IDF
(photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
On the eve of the new school year the IDF this week destroyed two illegally built modular Palestinian and Beduin schools funded by the European Union.
On Tuesday evening, the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria took down a building made up in six caravans in the village of Jub al-Dib near Bethlehem. On Sunday demolished a one-room modular kindergarten in the Beduin herding village of Badu al-Baba near the town of Eizariya just outside of Jerusalem. In both cases the Civil Administration said the structures lacked permits.
“The building in Jub al-Dib was built illegally last weekend, a blunt violation of stop work orders and without receiving the required permits. Therefore, the confiscation was carried out in accordance to the Civil Administration’s authorities,” it said.
Of the kindergarten Eizariya it said “an illegal tin and wood shed was found in Eizariya, that was established over the past two weeks without receiving the required permits.
“The shed was confiscated by virtue of the procedure to confiscate caravans and in accordance to the law. We would like to emphasize that the construction was not in use,” the Civil Administration said.
Israeli information center for human rights, B’Tselem, said that Civil Administration’s actions left 80 elementary school pupils in Jub al-Dib without any place to study near their homes.
In past years they had gone to the nearby village sou Dar Salah and Beit Ta’mir.
“The demolition of a school building the night before the start of the year epitomizes the administrative cruelty and systematic harassment by authorities designed to drive Palestinians from their land,” B’Tselem said.
It noted that in June the Civil Administration had confiscated solar panels from Jub al-Dib funded by the Dutch government.
Palestinians and Beduin in Area C receive very few construction permits from the Civil Administration. As a result the EU has said helping them with housing is a humanitarian gesture allowed under international law.


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