Israel to sell confiscated Palestinian classrooms donated by EU

Israel is to auction two prefabricated classrooms which were donated to Palestinian schoolchildren by the EU, the Guardian reported today.

Occupation forces tore down and confiscated the classrooms in October last year. Some 49 students were expected to use the rooms in Ibziq, in the northern occupied West Bank.

“An advertisement published in the Israeli newspaper Maariv said the sale would take place at Civil Administration offices in the West Bank,” the newspaper reported.

The EU had condemned Israeli authorities’ destruction of the classrooms and called for them to be rebuilt in the same place “without delay”.

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“Every child has the right to access education and states have an obligation to protect, respect and fulfil this right, by ensuring that schools are inviolable safe spaces for children,” it said at the time.

“A list of auction items, seen by the Guardian, showed dates, item numbers, locations and descriptions that matched the confiscated classroom structures. The sale also appeared to include material confiscated from Palestinians,” the Guardian added, who had built their properties without the necessary planning licences.

The Civil Administration, the Israeli body which governs the occupied West Bank, did not comment on the upcoming sale.

Israel demolishing Palestinian schools – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]