Israel to auction prefab classrooms EU donated to Palestinians

Israel’s defence ministry plans to hold an auction next week to sell two prefabricated classrooms that were donated to Palestinian schoolchildren by the EU.
2 min read
31 May, 2019
Last year, Israel shut down a number of schools in the West Bank [Getty]
Two prefabricated classrooms donated by the EU to Palestinian schoolchildren will be auctioned off by Israel's defence ministry, the Guardian reported on Friday.

The classrooms, which were torn down and confiscated by Israeli forces in October, will be put up for sale next week, according to an advertisement in Israeli newspaper Maariv.

A list of the items up for auction matched the description of the confiscated classroom structures, the Guardian said. They had been intended for 49 Palestinian students of primary school age in the West Bank village of Ibziq. 

When the structures were seized in October, the EU mission to Jersalem and Ramallah slammed the move and urged by Israeli authorities to return the classrooms to their place "without delay".

"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.

"[T]he EU calls upon the Israeli authorities to halt demolitions and confiscations of Palestinian houses and property, in accordance with its obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law."

Last year, Israel shut down a number of schools for Palestinian children in the West Bank, stating that they did not have permits to run.

Israel occupied the West Bank during a 1967 war and 400,000 Israeli settlers remain there, in communities considered illegal by the international community.

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