BETHLEHEM, November 12, 2017 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities Sunday notified two Palestinians from the village of al-Walajeh, to the west of Bethlehem, to stop the construction of two homes of their own in the village, under the pretext of lacking an Israeli construction permit, local sources said.

Staff from the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem accompanied by a military escort broke into the village and handed notices to Khaled Abu Kheyara and Yousef Rabah, asking them to stop the construction of the two homes.

Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, although the estimated 550,000 Jewish Israeli settlers are more easily given building permits and allowed to expand their homes and properties.

Nearly all Palestinian applications for building permits in Area C -- the 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control -- are denied by the Israeli authorities, forcing communities to build illegally.

M.N