IOF demolish donor-funded Palestinian elementary school in West Bank

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
7 May 16:30
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The Palestinian Ministry of Education warns that the violations are impacting children and teachers as it urged relevant institutions and UN agencies to take up responsibility in pressuring the IOF to stop demolishing schools.

Palestinians walk by the remains of a school demolished by the IOF in the West Bank area, Masafer Yatta, on November 23, 2022. (AP)

A donor-funded Palestinian primary school has been demolished by the IOF in the occupied West Bank, shattering the Palestinian children’s right to education.

According to witnesses and local officials, the town of Beit Ta’mir was raided by the IOF on Sunday and the Challenge 5 School was taken down, adding that dozens in the IOF cleared the area by storming and condoning it off as a bulldozer flattened it.

The makeshift school was attended by 66 Palestinian students and was previously demolished in 2017 before it was rebuilt again the same year.

The Palestinian Ministry of Education called the act “a heinous crime", adding that “these practices fall within the framework of the occupying regime’s ongoing crimes against the Palestinian educational sector, targeting students, teachers and educational institutions in complete disregard of international conventions and principles".

تغطية صحفية: رفع علم فلسطين فوق بقايا مدرسة التحدي 5 التي هدمها الاحتلال في مسافر يطا. pic.twitter.com/FecOHOUTBd
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) May 7, 2023

In its statement, the ministry continued by saying that “international organizations and human rights institutions are required to assume their responsibilities regarding the escalating Israeli violations, highlight them in all significant events and conferences, and provide protection for our students and educational staff in light of such Israeli acts of aggression".

An Israeli court issued a verdict last March ordering to take down the school after rejecting a petition against it. Several articles of international law are being violated as schools are being demolished.

On Sunday, the IOF demolished several other structures, including two homes under construction, a guest house, and a car wash workshop in the West Bank.

The Arab Campaign for Education for All (ACEA) warned earlier that 58 schools in the occupied West Bank were targeted for demolition.

“Israeli authorities have issued six demolition or stop-building orders targeting six Palestinian schools during the past year [2022], in addition to demolition notices targeting 58 schools in the West Bank, including Al-Quds, which serve more than 6,500 Palestinian students and provide jobs to more than 700 educational staff,” ACEA revealed in its statement.

It continued to issue warnings regarding the violations that are impacting children, teachers, and school buildings, as it urged relevant institutions and United Nations agencies to take up their responsibility in pressuring the IOF to stop demolishing schools.

The school was the Ministry's fifth school built in areas threatened by Israeli settlement expansion projects. These schools are located in so-called Area C, which remains under complete Israeli control.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israeli restrictions in Area C have made obtaining building permits "nearly impossible" for Palestinians. As a result of Israeli repressive actions, more than a third of Palestinian villages in Area C do not have access to primary education.

It is worth noting that the occupied West Bank was divided into three administrative sections under the 1993 "Oslo Accords", with so-called Area A managed by the Palestinian Authority, the so-called Area B under alleged shared sovereignty, and the so-called Area C – the largest area, accounting for around 60% of the territory – under complete Israeli military control.