Tel Aviv: Israeli forces on Sunday demolished a Palestinian school in the occupied West Bank under the pretext it was built in Area C without a permit, Anadolu Agency reported.
Accompanied by a bulldozer and trucks, forces demolished the school named Challenge 5. The surrounding Palestinian residential community of Jib al-Dib, east of Bethlehem, was also raided.
This led to clashes between Palestinian youth and the occupation forces. While young men threw stones and set tires on fire, the Israeli forces retaliated by firing tear gas and stun grenades.
European Union (which funded the construction of the school) condemned the Israeli move as illegal.
Earlier, a right-wing Israeli organization had submitted a petition against the school claiming the Palestinians had “conquered” the land.
The European Union Delegation to the Palestinians, on its official Twitter account, said the demolition was “illegal under international law” and would “only increase the suffering of the Palestinian population and further escalate an already tense environment.”
The school was established in 2017, and it consists of five classrooms, and it serves students up to the fourth grade, and 81 students enroll in it, and it is built of bricks and roofed with tin panels.
The Israeli authorities prevent construction or land reclamation in Area C without permits, which are almost impossible to obtain, according to Palestinians and international human rights reports.
The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is considered occupied territory under international law, which makes all Israeli demolitions and settlement construction there illegal.
The Oslo Accords (1993) classified the lands of the West Bank into 3 areas— “A” under full Palestinian control, “B” under Israeli security and Palestinian administrative civil control, and “C” under Israeli civil, administrative and security control.
