NABLUS,  Monday, January 25, 2021 (WAFA) – Israeli forces today issued demolition notices against a residential building and two houses in Asira ash-Shamaliya village, north of the occupied city of Nablus, according to sources.

Mayor of Asira ash-Shamaliya, Hazem Yassin, told WAFA that Israeli forces raided the village, and handed Mohammad al-Sholi a notice to demolish his seven-story residential building and as well as Nabil and Bader Hamadneh notices to demolish their houses.

Yassin said that the structures slated for demolition are located in Area C, but still within the master plan of the village, while affirming the owners have obtained the necessary building licenses from the municipality.

He warned that if the demolition is carried out, 12 families will be displaced and hue material losses will be inflicted upon the owners and tenants of the five stores in the first storey of the building.

Israel demolishes Palestinian houses and structures almost on a daily basis as a means to achieve “demographic control” of the occupied territories.

Israel denies planning permits for Palestinians to build on their own land or to extend existing houses to accommodate natural growth, particularly in Jerusalem and Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and falls under full Israeli military rule, forcing residents to build without obtaining rarely-granted permits to provide shelters for their families.

In contrast, Israel argues that building within existing colonial settlements is necessary to accommodate the “natural growth” of settlers. Therefore, it much more easily gives over 700,000 Jewish Israeli settlers there building permits and provides them with roads, electricity, water and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.

K.T./ K.F.