[News] EU lets Israel destroy West Bank schools it funded
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Tue Aug 29 10:55:27 EDT 2017
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/eu-lets-israel-destroy-west-bank-schools-it-funded
EU lets Israel destroy West Bank schools it funded
Ali Abunimah <https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah> - 28
August 2017
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dozens of Palestinian children were due to begin classes in Jubbet
al-Dib, a village near Bethlehem, last week.
But on the evening of 22 August, Israeli occupation forces destroyed
their new school.
It consisted of six prefabricated buildings largely funded by the
European Union <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/european-union> and
several of its governments.
During the five-hour assault in Jubbet al-Dib, Israeli forces declared
the area a closed military zone and used stun grenades, tear gas and
rubber-coated metal bullets
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=778812> to keep residents away
as they dismantled and confiscated the buildings.
“It was heartbreaking to see children and their teachers turning up for
their first day of school under the blazing sun, with no classrooms or
anywhere to seek shelter in, while in the immediate vicinity the work to
expand illegal settlements goes on uninterrupted,” Itay Epshtain of the
Norwegian Refugee Council said
<https://www.nrc.no/news/2017/august/israel-demolishes-palestinian-schools-days-before-reopening/>
after visiting the village.
“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,” the Israeli
human rights group B’Tselem stated.
An EU spokesperson told The Electronic Intifada on Monday that the value
of the buildings and equipment seized by Israeli forces in Jubbet al-Dib
and earlier in the Abu Nuwwar community is $37,000 – and that they were
paid for jointly by the EU, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden.
Earlier in August, Israeli forces confiscated solar panels
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.806053> that provided
electricity to the kindergarten of the Abu Nuwwar
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/abu-nuwwar> community, located in
the so-called E-1 <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/e1> area of the
occupied West Bank, where Israel plans to expand its mega-settlement of
Maaleh Adumim <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/maaleh-adumim>.
Weak EU response
In a weakly worded statement
<https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/palestine-occupied-palestinian-territory-west-bank-and-gaza-strip/31338/local-eu-statement-recent-confiscations-school-structures-occupied-west-bank_en>
last week, the European Union expressed its “strong concern” – not even
“condemnation” – about this and other demolitions.
The statement neglected even to mention that the buildings were funded
by European taxpayers.
The EU did, however, mention Israel’s policy of “designating land for
exclusive Israeli use and of denying Palestinian development” – an
indirect acknowledgement of what others have more forthrightly and
accurately labeled apartheid
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/landmark-un-report-backs-israel-boycott>.
Yet on Monday, the EU confirmed that it is content to let the
destruction pass without any tangible action to hold Israel accountable.
Asked what the EU planned to do to seek restitution and accountability
from Israel, the spokesperson said: “The EU has raised these matters
publicly and also privately in its dialogue with the Israeli authorities.”
That’s diplomatic speak for: we’ve done all we’re going to do, which
amounts to nothing.
Spate of attacks
The demolition in Jubbet al-Dib was one of several recent Israeli
attacks on Palestinian schools.
On 21 August, occupation forces raided the Palestinian Bedouin community
of Jabal al-Baba near the Jerusalem-area village of al-Eizariya and
demolished <http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=778784> a prefab
building that was to serve as a kindergarten for about 25 local children
who have no other school.
According to B’Tselem, Israeli forces took the desks, chairs and
blackboard – equipment valued at about $2,800, a large sum for a
community with so little.
“The latest spate of school demolitions and confiscations in the West
Bank forms part of a wider attack on education in Palestine,” the
Norwegian Refugee Council noted.
According to the agency, about 55 schools in the West Bank are currently
threatened with demolition or so-called “stop work” orders by occupation
forces.
Many are located in Area C <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/area-c>,
the roughly 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli military
control under the Oslo accords signed between Israel and the Palestine
Liberation Organization in the early 1990s.
Many of these schools are donor-funded, including by European Union
governments.
“Israel denies the majority of Palestinian planning permit requests in
Area C, thereby leaving Palestinians with no option but to reconstruct
and develop without permits, while Israeli settlements – established in
violation of international law – continue to expand,” the Norwegian
Refugee Council stated.
Massive destruction
Israel’s destruction of Palestinian infrastructure funded by
international donors is relentless and systematic.
In recent years, Israel has destroyed at least $74 million
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israel-has-destroyed-74-million-worth-eu-projects>
worth of EU-funded projects, including schools, playgrounds and
agricultural initiatives.
Analysts have suggested that EU officials have downplayed the full
extent of Israel’s destruction in order to avoid embarrassment.
Last year, the Tel Aviv newspaper /Haaretz/ reported that there was
mounting pressure <http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.722519>
from European Parliament members on EU foreign policy chief Federica
Mogherini <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/federica-mogherini> to
confront Israel more forcefully over the matter.
But instead, the EU appears to be intensifying its unconditional support
for Israel. A high-level official recently pledged EU support for
Israel’s efforts to silence criticism of its policies, under the guise
of fighting anti-Semitism
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/eu-pledges-help-israel-suppress-criticism>.
EU officials also continue
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/eu-spreads-lies-about-israel-boycott>
to smear the nonviolent boycott, divestment and sanctions movement with
claims that the EU cannot substantiate
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/why-eu-anti-semitism-chief-smearing-solidarity>
that BDS activities have led to a rise in anti-Semitic incidents.
The EU also continues to fund Israeli torturers
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/why-eu-funding-israeli-torturers>
and arms makers
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/eu-funds-firm-supplying-israel-banned-cluster-weapons>.
Empty words
In July, Israel confiscated
<http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-1.798792>
solar and diesel electricity generating equipment in Jubbet al-Dib
donated by the Netherlands and valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Dutch government sent Israel a letter protesting the move, saying it
was “currently assessing what next steps can be taken.”
/Haaretz/ reported
<http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-1.798792>
that “these softly worded statements cover the anger brewing in the
government of the Netherlands, a close friend of Israel’s, at the damage
to the humanitarian project.”
And in the wake of the demolition in Jubbet al-Dib this month, the
Belgian government let its anger be known.
“These new demolitions and seizures of essential infrastructure are
unacceptable,” the country’s foreign minister Didier Reynders and
development minister Alexander De Croo said in a joint statement
<http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/didier-reynders-and-alexander-de-croo-condemn-demolition>.
“By undermining such humanitarian projects, Israel contravenes its
international obligations as an occupying power, in particular the
Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons
in Time of War,” the Belgian government added.
Strong words indeed, but followed by soothing reassurances to Israel
that it need fear no consequences.
“Explanations as well as compensation will be demanded from the Israeli
government,” the ministers said. “Belgium is not the only international
donor affected by this kind of destruction. It will continue to work
together with its partners, as in the past, to ask the Israeli
authorities to end these demolitions.”
There is no hint of what Belgium might do if Israel ignores its polite
requests, but if the past is a guide, it will – like the EU – do
absolutely nothing.
Slap us again
“The destruction of educational structures funded by European money is
not just a violation of international law,” said the Norwegian Refugee
Council’s Palestine director Hanibal Abiy Worku. “It is also a slap in
the face to the international community providing aid to the occupied
Palestinian population in a bid to ensure safe places of learning for
children.”
With their inaction, the EU and its member governments are once again
sending Israel a very clear message: please slap us and our taxpaying
citizens again, and keep on destroying the schools and lives of
Palestinians.
--
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