BETHLEHEM, Thursday, December 05, 2019 (WAFA) – Israeli forces today demolished a garage and a car wash in al-Walaja village, located to the west of Bethlehem.

Local activist Ibrahim Awadallah told WAFA that Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer to the village entrance, where the heavy machinery tore down a garage and a car wash purportedly for being built without licenses.

The owner of the demolished structures was identified as Husam Khalifa.

Located at a horizontal distance of 5 kilometers to the west of Bethlehem, al-Walaja has a population of some 2,800 and occupies a total area of 4,328 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 ed control over a small pocket of land occupying 113 dunams and accounting for only 2.6 percent of the village’s total area. This area is classified as Area B. In contrast, Israel maintains control over the remainder, classified as Area C.

An area of 4,209 dunams of the village, accounting for 97 percent, is completely isolated by the section of Israel’s apartheid wall. The majority of this land is agricultural land, forests and open spaces.

The village is flanked by two Israeli colonial settlements; Gilo from the east and Har Gilo from the south.

K.F.