{"id":3539,"date":"2017-08-28T09:01:33","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T09:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/?p=3539"},"modified":"2017-09-05T09:01:53","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T09:01:53","slug":"eu-lets-israel-destroy-west-bank-schools-it-funded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/?p=3539","title":{"rendered":"EU lets Israel destroy West Bank schools it funded"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Palestinian children attend class in a tent on 24 August, after Israeli occupation forces dismantled their school in the West Bank village of Jubbet al-Dib, near Bethlehem, two days earlier. Wisam Hashlamoun \/ APA images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dozens of Palestinian children were due to begin classes in Jubbet al-Dib, a village near Bethlehem, last week.<\/p>\n

But on the evening of 22 August, Israeli occupation forces destroyed their new school.<\/p>\n

It consisted of six prefabricated buildings largely funded by the\u00a0European Union<\/a>\u00a0and several of its governments.<\/p>\n

During the five-hour assault in Jubbet al-Dib, Israeli forces declared the area a closed military zone and used stun grenades,\u00a0tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets<\/a>\u00a0to keep residents away as they dismantled and confiscated the buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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,\u201d Itay Epshtain of the Norwegian Refugee Council\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0after visiting the village.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d the Israeli human rights group B\u2019Tselem stated.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 and that they were paid for jointly by the EU, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden.<\/p>\n

Earlier in August, Israeli forces\u00a0confiscated solar panels<\/a>\u00a0that provided electricity to the kindergarten of the\u00a0Abu Nuwwar<\/a>\u00a0community, located in the so-called\u00a0E-1<\/a>\u00a0area of the occupied West Bank, where Israel plans to expand its mega-settlement of\u00a0Maaleh Adumim<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Weak EU response<\/h2>\n

In a\u00a0weakly worded statement<\/a>\u00a0last week, the European Union expressed its \u201cstrong concern\u201d \u2013 not even \u201ccondemnation\u201d \u2013 about this and other demolitions.<\/p>\n

The statement neglected even to mention that the buildings were funded by European taxpayers.<\/p>\n

The EU did, however, mention Israel\u2019s policy of \u201cdesignating land for exclusive Israeli use and of denying Palestinian development\u201d \u2013 an indirect acknowledgement of what others have\u00a0more forthrightly and accurately labeled apartheid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet on Monday, the EU confirmed that it is content to let the destruction pass without any tangible action to hold Israel accountable.<\/p>\n

Asked what the EU planned to do to seek restitution and accountability from Israel, the spokesperson said: \u201cThe EU has raised these matters publicly and also privately in its dialogue with the Israeli authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s diplomatic speak for: we\u2019ve done all we\u2019re going to do, which amounts to nothing.<\/p>\n

Spate of attacks<\/h2>\n

The demolition in Jubbet al-Dib was one of several recent Israeli attacks on Palestinian schools.<\/p>\n

On 21 August, occupation forces raided the Palestinian Bedouin community of Jabal al-Baba near the Jerusalem-area village of al-Eizariya and\u00a0demolished<\/a>\u00a0a prefab building that was to serve as a kindergarten for about 25 local children who have no other school.<\/p>\n

According to B\u2019Tselem, Israeli forces took the desks, chairs and blackboard \u2013 equipment valued at about $2,800, a large sum for a community with so little.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe latest spate of school demolitions and confiscations in the West Bank forms part of a wider attack on education in Palestine,\u201d the Norwegian Refugee Council noted.<\/p>\n

According to the agency, about 55 schools in the West Bank are currently threatened with demolition or so-called \u201cstop work\u201d orders by occupation forces.<\/p>\n

Many are located in\u00a0Area C<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

Many of these schools are donor-funded, including by European Union governments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael 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 \u2013 established in violation of international law \u2013 continue to expand,\u201d the Norwegian Refugee Council stated.<\/p>\n

Massive destruction<\/h2>\n

Israel\u2019s destruction of Palestinian infrastructure funded by international donors is relentless and systematic.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Israel has\u00a0destroyed at least $74 million<\/a>\u00a0worth of EU-funded projects, including schools, playgrounds and agricultural initiatives.<\/p>\n

Analysts have suggested that EU officials have downplayed the full extent of Israel\u2019s destruction in order to avoid embarrassment.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Tel Aviv newspaper\u00a0Haaretz<\/em>\u00a0reported that there was\u00a0mounting pressure<\/a>\u00a0from European Parliament members on EU foreign policy chief\u00a0Federica Mogherini<\/a>\u00a0to confront Israel more forcefully over the matter.<\/p>\n

But instead, the EU appears to be intensifying its unconditional support for Israel. A high-level official recently pledged EU support for Israel\u2019s efforts to silence criticism of its policies, under the\u00a0guise of fighting anti-Semitism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EU officials also\u00a0continue<\/a>\u00a0to smear the nonviolent boycott, divestment and sanctions movement with\u00a0claims that the EU cannot substantiate<\/a>\u00a0that BDS activities have led to a rise in anti-Semitic incidents.<\/p>\n

The EU also continues to fund Israeli\u00a0torturers<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0arms makers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Empty words<\/h2>\n

In July, Israel\u00a0confiscated<\/a>\u00a0solar and diesel electricity generating equipment in Jubbet al-Dib donated by the Netherlands and valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

The Dutch government sent Israel a letter protesting the move, saying it was \u201ccurrently assessing what next steps can be taken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haaretz<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cthese softly worded statements cover the anger brewing in the government of the Netherlands, a close friend of Israel\u2019s, at the damage to the humanitarian project.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in the wake of the demolition in Jubbet al-Dib this month, the Belgian government let its anger be known.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese new demolitions and seizures of essential infrastructure are unacceptable,\u201d the country\u2019s foreign minister Didier Reynders and development minister Alexander De Croo said in a\u00a0joint statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy 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,\u201d the Belgian government added.<\/p>\n

Strong words indeed, but followed by soothing reassurances to Israel that it need fear no consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cExplanations as well as compensation will be demanded from the Israeli government,\u201d the ministers said. \u201cBelgium 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no hint of what Belgium might do if Israel ignores its polite requests, but if the past is a guide, it will \u2013 like the EU \u2013 do absolutely nothing.<\/p>\n

Slap us again<\/h2>\n

\u201cThe destruction of educational structures funded by European money is not just a violation of international law,\u201d said the Norwegian Refugee Council\u2019s Palestine director Hanibal Abiy Worku. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/ali-abunimah\/eu-lets-israel-destroy-west-bank-schools-it-funded<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u00a0European Union\u00a0and several of its governments. During the five-hour assault in Jubbet al-Dib, Israeli …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3539"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3541,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539\/revisions\/3541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}