IRELAND HAS JOINED 11 other countries and the European Union in condemning the destruction of a donor-funded school in the occupied West Bank, warning that escalating settler violence is driving Palestinian communities from their homes.

In a joint statement issued on Thursday following a visit to Hammamat al-Maleh in the Jordan Valley, representatives from Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Canada and several other nations said the destruction of the school was part of a worsening pattern of intimidation and displacement across the West Bank.

The delegation visited the community on 4 May, weeks after Israeli settlers demolished the school during a nighttime raid on 21 April.

The school, which had been co-funded by Irish Aid and other international donors, had served children from remote Bedouin and herding communities in the northern Jordan Valley.

“We heard from the community how they were forced to leave in March because of sustained settler violence and intimidation, conditions that may amount to forcible transfer,” the joint statement said.

The representatives warned that repeated attacks on schools and learning spaces were undermining children’s right to education and damaging prospects for coexistence.

“The destruction of the school in Hammamat al-Maleh will harm its students foremost, with lasting impacts on their futures and attitudes,” the statement added.

An image of the destroyed school building. Jordan Valley Activists Jordan Valley Activists

The group also visited nearby Khirbet Samra, where they said half the community had fled following settler assaults earlier this year.

“We saw a pattern across the Jordan Valley and West Bank,” the statement said.

The signatories recalled last year’s advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice and said Israel, as the occupying power, “must uphold its obligations under international law to protect civilians”.

“Israeli authorities must hold violent settlers accountable for their actions. Impunity has to end,” they added.

The destruction of the school sparked outrage in Ireland last month after the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Ireland and partner countries would seek financial compensation from Israel.

Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee previously described the demolition as “not only unacceptable, it is indefensible”.

The school had served around 60 children at its peak and had faced years of demolition threats, stop-work orders and repeated vandalism.

According to the Occupied Palestinian Territories Education Cluster, settlers repeatedly targeted the school earlier this year.

Computers and equipment were stolen, classrooms were vandalised, solar panels were damaged and there were threats of arson before it was ultimately bulldozed by illegal settlers in April.

The wider Hammamat al-Maleh community, located in Area C of the West Bank, had already been largely displaced by escalating violence and intimidation before the demolition took place.

Area C, which remains under full Israeli control under the Oslo Accords, is home to around 300,000 Palestinians and roughly 400,000 Israeli settlers. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law.

Irish MEP Barry Andrews, who visited the occupied West Bank this week, said the destruction of the school reflected a broader pattern of attacks occurring “four or five times a day”.

“There’ll never be any consequences. This happens daily,” Andrews told The Journal during his visit.

He described what he witnessed in the West Bank as “a brutal system of apartheid” and called on the European Union to impose trade sanctions on Israel over settlement expansion and settler violence.

“Smaller than county Galway, the West Bank has over 900 military checkpoints, barriers and roadblocks,” Andrews said.

“What I am witnessing here is shocking.”