{"id":553539,"date":"2026-07-22T06:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T06:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/553539\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T06:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T06:00:10","slug":"eu-behind-illegal-palestinian-building-in-judea-and-samaria-israeli-ngo-says-israel-jewish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/553539\/","title":{"rendered":"EU behind illegal Palestinian building in Judea and Samaria, Israeli NGO says – Israel & Jewish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

(July 22, 2026 \/ JNS)\n <\/p>\n

An illegal Palestinian Authority compound funded with European Union money was recently discovered in Area C by Regavim, an Israeli NGO focused on land-use issues. It sets in stark relief E.U. hypocrisy, the group said.<\/p>\n

The recently discovered recreational compound and public park was built in 2025 on the outskirts of the village of Silat ad-Dhahr in northern Samaria. Part of it is located on Israeli state land in Area C, near the renewed community of Sa Nur, one of four settlements evacuated in Samaria during the 2005 Gaza disengagement.<\/p>\n

\u201cConstructed less than a year ago, the compound includes an impressive entrance gate, a broad access road, benches, a pergola, playground equipment and a light-construction utility structure. According to official signage at the site, the planning and construction of the compound and access road were funded directly by the European Union,\u201d Regavim said in a statement. <\/p>\n

The site fits into a broader pattern of Arab encroachment on open areas to seize Israeli state land and create facts on the ground in preparation for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

The site was found during a routine field inspection to assess the condition of state land in the area as the Israeli government takes steps to expand Jewish communities in northern Samaria. <\/p>\n

The government wants a bloc of settlements to regain control of this \u201cstrategically crucial area that has become a hotbed of terrorism,\u201d Naomi Kahn, director of the International Division of Regavim, told JNS.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur field coordinator did a standard sweep to update our data on the areas being re-populated by Jewish communities in northern Samaria. He discovered a recently-built recreational compound with European Union sponsorship signage and Palestinian Authority credits. But the compound, which \u2018spilled over\u2019 from Area B, is sitting on Israeli state land in Area C,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole thing is illegal, and comes at precisely the same time the EU has sanctioned law-abiding Israeli civil society organizations, including Regavim, without even the pretense that they are guilty of doing anything illegal,\u201d Kahn added.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A sign showing the European Union sponsored the new illegal Palestinian compound in Area C. Credit: Regavim.<\/p>\n

David Isaac<\/p>\n

The European Council adopted restrictive measures against Regavim and its director Meir Deutsch on May 28. It accused Regavim of petitioning the courts to demolish \u201cPalestinian property with the aim to expand the control of Israel to the whole West Bank and institute legal proceedings to that end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kahn said the E.U. targeted Regavim as payback after the group successfully foiled illegal EU building activity, particularly an EU-funded school deemed a serious safety hazard by the Jerusalem District Court, which was then demolished.<\/p>\n

The E.U. referred to this structure specifically in its sanctions announcement. \u201cThe organization [Regavim] also lobbied for the demolition of an EU-funded Palestinian primary school at the Jabbet al Dhib village, near Bethlehem, in the West Bank,\u201d the E.U. said.<\/p>\n

Kahn is convinced that E.U. sanctions against Regavim and other Israeli civil society groups are only a first stage. <\/p>\n

\u201cTheir aim is to curb the independence of Israeli courts and then the Israeli government,\u201d she said. \u201cKnowing that Regavim has been sanctioned for bringing suit, a reasonable judge will ask him or herself whether it\u2019s worth having their assets frozen, their travel restricted, their reputation dragged through the mud for the sake of enforcing the law against a rinky-dink structure that the E.U. will simply pay to rebuild.\u201d <\/p>\n

Roi Drucker, Regavim\u2019s field coordinator who discovered the illegal structure, said, \u201cThis is an unprecedented act of audacity by the European Union, which imposes sanctions with one hand while, with the other, violates international law and Israeli jurisdiction in Area C.\u201d <\/p>\n

He called for the Palestinian Authority and its European benefactors to obey the law. He also demanded that Israel\u2019s enforcement authorities restore order and governance to the region, starting with the demolition of the illegal compound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(July 22, 2026 \/ JNS) An illegal Palestinian Authority compound funded with European Union money was recently discovered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-553539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}