RAMALLAH, April 15 (JMCC) - In what appears to be a
coordinated campaign, the Israeli military carried out the demolition of
Palestinian homes and businesses in the three separate towns of the West Bank,
on Wednesday
In the village of Hares a convoy of Israeli military jeeps and a bulldozer
entered in the early morning. They began by demolishing the newly built home of
a Palestinian family of seven, including five children.
The home demolition was followed by the destruction of two commercial buildings
on the outskirts of the town, according to a report.
In the village of al-Khader outside of Bethlehem a home of nine Palestinians
was demolished by the Israeli military at nearly the same time as those in
Hares.
According to a report, the family's lawyer attempted to halt the demolition by
providing a document from 2006 showing a court injunction regarding destruction
of the property, but was disregarded by the officer in charge of the operation.
Mahmoud Zwahare, a popular committee member from the Bethlehem region decried
the actions of the military as intentionally provocative.
Israel keeps claiming it strives for peace and constantly complains about
Palestinian incitement and violence, he said. It is doing so while
carrying destructive and irreversible steps on the ground against ordinary
civilians. The demolitions today has nothing to do with the security of Israelis
and everything to do with provocation and injustice.”
A factory was also destroyed by the military in the nearby town of Beit Sahour.
All three demolition operations were on land classified as Area C, under full
Israeli security and administrative control, a legacy from the Oslo Accords, an
interim peace agreement established in 1993.
In Area C, Israel's military government is in charge of giving permits to
Palestinians who want to build new structures, something which they say is
almost impossible to obtain.
The result is Palestinians forced to build without permits to meet the needs of
growing families. However, once any part of a structure is built without a
permit, including add-ons, the whole building is liable to be demolished by
Israeli authorities.