Israel issues orders to halt construction of Yatta Mosque

Israeli forces prevented villagers in Yatta from constructing a mosque on Monday, claiming the building lacked an Israeli-issued building permit, locals said. Israeli forces arrived in the area and confiscated stones and construction materials being used to build the mosque, villagers in al-Deirat told Ma'an. Israeli forces issued demolition orders for the parts of the mosque already built and banned villagers from all construction in the area. In the past, Israeli forces have demolished at least three houses in the village, claiming they lacked a building permit. Several residential and agricultural structures have also been issued demolition or stop-work orders, according to the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem. Al-Deirat is located in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli control and where all construction and planning issues come under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Civil Administration. Figures from the Israeli NGO Bimkom show that around 95 percent of applications for building permits are rejected.