Israeli authorities deliver demolition orders for Palestinian homes in the West Bank
JUNE 27, 2017 3:01 P.M. (UPDATED: JUNE 27, 2017 4:03 P.M.)
A Palestinian family argues with Israeli security forces as an army bulldozer prepares to demolish their house near Hebron on January 2015. (AFP/Hazem Bader, File)
An under-construction home in the town of Beit Jala in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem has been slated for demolition by Israeli authorities, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Tuesday.
According to the report, homeowner Issa Abdullah Hafi was notified by Israeli authorities of their intention to demolish the home he was building, under the pretext that it was built without Israeli permission.
A spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for enforcing Israeli policies in the occupied territory, told Ma'an they could not provide comment on the issue without Hafi's identification number or the case number on the demolition warrant, to which Ma'an did not have access.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem-based outlet al-Quds news reported that Israeli forces raided the town of al-Mughayyir in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah and delivered an unspecified number of demolition orders to homes there, sparking clashes between locals and Israeli soldiers.
Israeli forces demolished 1,093 Palestinian homes across the occupied Palestinian territory in 2016, displacing 1,601 Palestinians, when Palestinians experienced the highest number of Israeli demolitions since rights groups began recording the incidents. At least 417 Palestinians have already been displaced since the start of this year as a result of Israeli demolitions, according to UN documentation.
Meanwhile, an alleged Israeli government plan to allow for the construction of thousands of housing units for Palestinians in Area C -- the more than 60 percent of the occupied West Bank under full Israeli control -- has sparked outrage among ultra right-wing Israeli politicians, despite recent reportsrevealing that the plans would allow for far less construction than previously thought, and would not begin for nearly two decades.
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