This is not the first time European-funded illegal Palestinian construction has deliberately encroached on Israel’s borders.
Currently, a school built by Palestinian Authority (PA) is operating illegally in the Nahal Machoch Nature Reserve in the Judean Desert, in violation of Israeli law.
According to a report by the Jewish Press, a sign on the school says that it was built with funds provided by the European Union and other international sources, and is owned and operated by “The State of Palestine – Ministry of Education and Advanced Scholarship.”
The Regavim Movement, an organization that monitors and pursues legal action against illegal construction by Palestinian and Bedouin settlers, has filed a petition with the court charging the PA with violation of Israel’s Nature Protection Law, trespassing on state land, and violation of the Planning and Building Code.
In Jerusalem alone, there are four Hamas-linked schools.
The Al-Eman Schools, operating in eastern Jerusalem, are run by “elements linked to Hamas” as well as “supported and existing through cooperation with organizations and NGOs in Turkey that identify with Hamas, act against the existence of the State of Israel and spread inflammatory incitement against it,” reported Yedioth Ahronoth in August.
In addition to violating the law by breaching Israel’s borders, Palestinian schools indoctrinate students to vilify Israel, glorify martyrdom, and encourage terrorism.
IMPACT-se, an NGO that evaluates school materials according to the standards set forth by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), found that PA school materials “indoctrinate for death and martyrdom, utilizing a variety of tools to convince children to risk their lives as martyrs.”
“Throughout the textbooks for all grades, the need for continuous struggle is stressed — using terminology like revolution, uprising, … and jihad, not only as part of a national struggle but also as a way of teaching and invoking extremist religious beliefs as a central goal of this curriculum,” IMPACT-se said.
