BETHLEHEM,  Wednesday, August 25, 2021 (WAFA) – Israeli forces today demolished a Palestinian house in al-Walaja village, northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to sources.

Head of al-Walaja Village Council, Khader al-Aaraj, told WAFA that the Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer to Ein Joweiza area, where the heavy machinery tore down the house which belonged to Ahmad Abu al-Teen purportedly for being built without a license.

Meanwhile, Israeli bulldozers tore down a 200-square-meter car workshop al-Harayeq area, at the southern entrance of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, citing the same pretext.

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 limited 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.T./ K.F.