BETHLEHEM, Tuesday, July 28, 2020 (WAFA) – Israeli forces today demolished a carwash and seized all of its equipment and contents in al-Khader town, south of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, a local source said.

Director of the Anti-Wall and Settlement Commission in Bethlehem Hasan Breijeh told WAFA that Israeli soldiers raided Um Rukba area, south of the town, and demolished the carwash and seized all of its contents, purportedly for being built without a permit.

Owner of the carwash was identified as Ahmad al-Seer.

Breijieh noted that al-Seer was previously given a military demolition notice by Israeli authorities in March.

Located 4 kilometers to the west of Bethlehem city, al-Khader has a population of some 12,500 and occupies a total area of 8,280 dunams.

Under the Oslo Accords, an agreement made 25 years ago that was supposed to last just five years towards a self-governing country alongside Israel, the Palestinian Authority was given limited control over a small pocket of land occupying some 1,200dunams, accounting for almost 14.5 percent of the village’s total area.  In contrast, Israel maintains control over the remainder, classified as Area C.

Since the start of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, like so many other villages in Palestine, al-Khader has been subjected to almost continual land theft for Israeli settlements, bypass roads, and military installations.

Israel has constructed Efrat and NeveDaniyyel colonial settlements on an area of 6,329 dunums of Palestinian land, including a portion confiscated from al-Khader. It has also constructed a section of the apartheid wall, isolating some 5,620 dunums of the town’s land for colonial settlement activities and pushing the villagers into a crowded enclave, a ghetto, surrounded by walls, settlements and military installations.

It has confiscated more land for the construction of a tunnel and a crossing, controlling Palestinian movement from Bethlehem city and the western countryside villages.

K.T/ K.F.