JERICHO, February 10, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities Wednesday demolished three residential structures and an animal barn, as well as destroyed water pipeline in the village of al-Jiftlek, in the northern Jordan Valley, according to witnesses.    

An Israeli army force accompanied by bulldozers broke into the village, located some 40 kilometers north of Jericho, and demolished three residential structures and an animal barn belonging to local Palestinians. The demolished three structures were home to three Palestinian families of nearly 25 inhabitants.

The force also destroyed a water pipeline which provides parts of the village with drinking water.

The village is 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 Israeli 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