Images
Top: The school. Bottom: The site of the school prior to its demolition. Photo: Ministry against the Fence and Settlements in the Palestinian Authority
This morning, 17 August 2023, about three months after residents of 'Ein Samia were forced to abandon their homes and lives in the community which lies northeast of Ramallah, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort, proclaimed the site a closed military zone and demolished the school community residents built in early 2022. The forces confiscated all the equipment inside the school as well.
On 22 May 2023, the last remaining residents of the community, which numbered 200, were forced to leave their homes after Israel had made their lives unbearable, in part through settler violence.
According to UN figures, the 'Ein Samia community school was one of 44 schools in the West Bank under threat of demolition, eight of them in East Jerusalem. About 4,800 students attend these schools.