In the occupied Palestinian territories, the European Union has invested for years in building the basic structures of daily existence. Educational institutions, medical facilities, water systems, community hubs, recreational areas and cultural sites seldom make the news, and that is appropriate.

Their role has always been practical. They stand because schooling, medical care, shared areas and clean water supplies are not extras to delay until calm returns. They form the essentials that let residents address daily requirements while political progress lags behind.

This spending mirrors an image Europe prefers to project about its values.

That partnership extends past immediate relief. That a workable two-state outcome needs functioning Palestinian societies, and that schools, clinics, water lines and public zones serve not only as relief efforts but as the base for any eventual Palestinian state.

Reviewing the EU-supported projects now reduced to debris, it is hard to avoid questioning if Europe still holds to its narrative.

The European Union has grown notably steady in backing the bases of Palestinian existence while showing much weaker resolve in pursuing those who repeatedly erase those same bases.

Recent replies from the European Commission to parliamentary queries we posed confirm what reporters, relief agencies and Palestinians have recorded over years.

At least €150m in European-backed structures has been lost in Gaza and the West Bank with no repayment.

Educational sites, shared facilities, water systems and growth initiatives have been leveled, harmed or made unusable.

The amounts stand out, yet figures alone miss the human loss. These efforts were never mere entries in accounts. They were sites where young people studied, the ill got care, locals gathered, households drew water and groups stayed united amid heavy strain.

A matter to be handled

For too long, Palestine has been viewed in Brussels as an item to handle instead of a political situation calling for firm decisions.

As damage grows and casualties mount, we debate phrasing for statements, and praise our efforts to keep talks open with those causing harm.

Every few months the same exchange returns. One more study. One more session. One more talk on relief needs, rebuilding or support. Structures continue to vanish. Our terms shift far less than the ground itself.

The talk on Gaza rebuilding has already started.

Per the combined review by the European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank, restoring Gaza will cost $71.4bn [€62.5bn] across the next ten years. Europe holds both an ethical duty and a practical stake in aiding Palestinians to restore their existence.

Yet if our goal is judged only by the scale of upcoming funding meetings or the sums we ready to gather, we will gain little from the disaster that made rebuilding essential.

Oddly, the exchange always halts at one spot. We cover who pays for rebuilding. We spend much less effort on who must answer for creating the need to rebuild.

Solidarity. But where is accountability?

Palestinian civilians should not have to pause for justice ahead of rebuilding.

At once, European taxpayers can rightly question why partnership has grown almost fully detached from responsibility.

Global rules cannot serve only as terms to note loss after it happens. They must also guide the decisions aimed at stopping loss before it starts.

Otherwise, rebuilding may turn into less a step toward recovery than a repeated part of a conflict the world has grown used to handling instead of ending.

Amid the debris, the funded by the EU signs still stand. Until we gain the resolve to act, we may keep paying for the following wave of wreckage.