{"id":110535,"date":"2026-06-17T20:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T20:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/110535\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T20:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T20:11:11","slug":"yle-israeli-settlers-destroy-finland-backed-schools-in-west-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/110535\/","title":{"rendered":"Yle: Israeli settlers destroy Finland-backed schools in West Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israeli settlers have destroyed schools and other community infrastructure in the occupied West Bank that received support from Finland and other international donors, according to a report by Yle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Finnish public broadcaster reported that a significant number of Palestinian facilities funded through international aid programmes have been demolished or damaged in recent years, including projects supported through Finnish development cooperation.<\/p>\n

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According to figures provided to Yle by the West Bank Protection Consortium (WBPC), at least 150 donor-funded structures have been destroyed by Israeli settlers since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.<\/p>\n

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The facilities include schools, water systems and housing built to support Palestinian communities in rural parts of the occupied territory.<\/p>\n

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Finland has contributed to these projects<\/a> through several aid programmes. Since 2019, the country has provided a total of \u20ac3.4 million to the WBPC, a consortium that supports vulnerable Palestinian communities in Area C of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

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The consortium receives funding from the European Union, several European governments, the United Kingdom and Canada. Because projects are jointly financed, Finnish authorities say it is not possible to determine exactly how much Finnish funding was invested in any individual structure that has later been destroyed.<\/p>\n

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One example highlighted by Yle was a school in Ein Samiya that was demolished in August 2023. The facility had received partial funding from Finland through donor-supported programmes.<\/p>\n

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The aid projects form part of a broader international effort to support Palestinian communities living under occupation and to prevent displacement from rural areas of the West Bank.<\/p>\n

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Allegra Pacheco, head of the West Bank Protection Consortium, told Yle that donor-funded schools and infrastructure are intended to help Palestinians remain on their land rather than being forced to leave.<\/p>\n

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According to United Nations data<\/a>, Israeli authorities have demolished more than 14,000 structures across the West Bank since 2009. Israel has generally argued that the buildings lacked the permits required under the area’s planning system, but human rights groups say that Palestinians face major obstacles in obtaining building permits in many parts of the occupied territory.<\/p>\n

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Elisa Alho-Kullstr\u00f6m, head of the Middle East unit at Finland\u2019s foreign ministry, told Yle that Finland has urged Israel both directly and through the European Union to take action against attacks by settlers.<\/p>\n

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The European Union has also sought compensation for donor-funded facilities that have been destroyed. According to Alho-Kullstr\u00f6m, Finland has participated in annual diplomatic d\u00e9marches pressing those claims.<\/p>\n

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HT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israeli settlers have destroyed schools and other community infrastructure in the occupied West Bank that received support from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[87],"tags":[55794,158,35537,113,44575,4175,55792,23677,12080,55793,6675],"class_list":["post-110535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-helsinki","tag-development-cooperation","tag-finland","tag-finland-aid","tag-helsinki","tag-israeli-settlers","tag-palestine","tag-palestinian-schools","tag-settler-violence","tag-west-bank","tag-west-bank-protection-consortium","tag-yle"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116767272955618102","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}