HEBRON, February 8, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities Monday notified Palestinians in Hebron and Nablus areas about their intention to demolish residential structures of their own in the area, according to local sources.
Rateb Jabour, an anti-Israeli settlement activist in Hebron, told WAFA an Israeli army force broke into al-Majaz, a village located south of Hebron in the West Bank, and notified four local Palestinians from the Abu Arram and al-Emour families that their homes will be demolished, under the pretext of construction without a permit.
The army also stormed the nearby village of al-Fakhet and raided a local school, where they took pictures of its facilities. The army further seized a car belonging to a local Palestinian in the village, but there were no reports of clashes with locals.
In the meantime, Israeli troops notified Palestinians in the village of Beita, south of Nablus, that some 15 Palestinian-owned commercial stores in the village’s vegetable market will be demolished, also for being constructed without an Israeli permit.
The three localities are located within Area C in the West Bank, under complete Israeli military and civil control.
Issuance of construction permits by Israeli authorities for Palestinians in Area C, unlike for Jewish settlers, requires unreasonable fees that most Palestinians cannot afford to pay.
Over the course of 2015, Israel demolished 521 structures in Area C as well as in East Jerusalem, displacing 636 people, according to the UN monitoring group OCHA.
The vast majority of these demolitions were carried out on the grounds of construction without a permit. Between 2010 and 2014, only 1.5 percent of applications for building permits in Area C were approved by Israeli occupation authorities, OCHA adds.
The Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD) explains in a special report that “in almost all cases Palestinians have no choice but to build ‘illegally’, as permits are almost impossible to obtain.”
“Many Palestinians have suffered multiple displacements, having lost their homes and livelihoods more than once. Forced displacement has a series of immediate and longer-term physical, socio-economic and psycho-social impacts on Palestinian families.”
M.N/M.H
