TULKARM, Wednesday, April 17, 2019 (WAFA) – Israeli bulldozers Wednesday morning demolished a Palestinian house under construction in the northern West Bank village of Jbara, south of Tulkarm, under the pretext it was built without a permit, according to witnesses.

They said that a large unit of Israeli soldiers escorted two bulldozers into the neighborhood where the house was located as soldiers cordoned off the village, preventing entry and exit of the villagers.

The bulldozers proceeded to demolish the 200-square meter, one story house, reducing it to rubble.

The witnesses added that the house owner had already received a stop-construction notice before receiving a demolition order a week ago.

The structure was demolished purportedly for being built in Area C without a license from the so-called Israeli Civil Administration, an arm of the Israeli military government, which controls Area C of the occupied West Bank.

Jbara mayor, Ihsan Tahsin, said five other homes have also received demolition orders for the same reason. He said he has requested from the Civil Administration to approve expanding the village‘s area but that he has not yet received any answer. The expansion means the threatened homes would be included within Jbara s.

Israel refuses to permit virtually any Palestinian construction in 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 much more easily gives the estimated 550,000 Jewish Israeli settlers building permits and provides them with roads, electricity, water and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.

The “Civil Administration” is the name Israel gives to the body administering its military occupation of the West Bank.

K.T./ K.F.