Qalandiyah, Occupied West Bank: Israeli occupation forces demolished the West Bank homes of two Palestinians.
The overnight demolitions took place in the Qalandiyah refugee camp, between occupied Jerusalem and Ramallah, with four Palestinians wounded in ensuing clashes, an AFP reporter said.
The homes belonged to Eisa Assaf and Annan Hamed, who were shot dead during an alleged December 23 attack on Israelis near occupied Jerusalem’s Old City.
Four Palestinians were wounded after protesting the punitive demolition.
Israel routinely demolishes homes of Palestinian assailants in what it says is a means to deter further attacks. Rights groups say it amounts to collective punishment, with families forced to suffer for the acts of relatives.
Statistics show that the Israeli regime has, since the beginning of the year, been engaged in a large and systematic demolition campaign across the West Bank, with demolition rates increasing sharply compared to last year.
According to a hard-worded statement by the Palestinian National Office for Defence of the Land and Resistance to Settlements [colonies], the large-scale demolition campaign aims to expel Palestinian residents from their lands, particularly in the Jordan Valley, the Hebron Hills, Nablus and the Palestinian areas around the Israeli colony block of Ma’ale Adumim.
“The large-scale campaign aims to expel Palestinian residents from their lands, says the Palestinian National Office for Defence of the Land and Resistance to Colonies”.
“Since the beginning of 2016, the Israeli occupation authorities have stepped up their efforts to expel Palestinians and demolish their constructions and structures provided to the Palestinian families by the international aid agencies, mainly the EU, as humanitarian aid,” said the office.
The occupation authorities demolish Palestinian homes and structures under the pretext that the owners of those structures do not hold official building permits from the Israeli authorities which, according to the office, approved less than 1.5 per cent of the total number of building requests submitted by the Palestinians.
