JENIN, Monday, August 09, 2021 (WAFA) – Israeli forces today tore down three stores in Ya‘bad town, southwest of the city of Jenin, according to local sources.

Mayor of Yaabad, Samer Abu-Baker, told WAFA that Israeli forces demolished three stores at the southern entrance of the northern West Bank town, purportedly for being built without licenses.

Owners of the demolished structures were identified as Mohammad Atatra and Omar al-Kilani.

Meanwhile, the soldiers demolished a water tank used for irrigation, located on the road connecting Ya‘bad to Arraba town. The owner was identified as a member of al-Sha‘er family.

The demolition raid triggered confrontations which saw the soldiers opening fire towards local youths, causing a number to suffocate from tear gas.

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 the 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.F.