Israel demolishes Palestinian home under construction in Bethlehem

Israeli soldiers Tuesday demolished a Palestinian-owned home under construction in the village of al-Walaja to the west of Bethlehem, under the pretext of lacking an Israeli-issued permit.

Security sources told WAFA Israeli forces, accompanied by bulldozers, demolished a 250-square-meters home belonging to local Hasan Abu al-Teen.

An official at al-Walaja village council stated that a large Israeli military force stormed the said area and imposed a military cordon around it, before proceeding to demolish the house.

To be noted, the owner, al-Teen, was handed a stop construction notice for the said house almost a week ago.

The village is located in Area C of the West Bank, under complete Israeli military control. Israel rarely issues construction permits to Palestinians in area C, forcing many to embark on construction without obtaining a permit.

Area C covers 60% of the West Bank, which was temporarily divided into three parts – A, B and C – under the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, signed by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

Today nearly 300,000 Palestinians live in Area C, while nearly 360,000 Jewish settlers live in 135 settlements and 100 settlement outposts, which are illegal under international law.

According to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), between 1988 and 2014, Israel’s Civil Administration, the governing body that operates in the West Bank, issued 14,000 demolition orders, of which more than 11,000 are still outstanding and could result in the demolition of up to 13,000 structures owned by Palestinians in Area C, including houses, sheds and animal shelters.

The report found the planning and zoning regime applied by the Israeli authorities, including the way land is allocated, “made it virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits in most of Area C”.

Source: WAFA