Palestinian sources reported that Israeli soldiers smashed, Sunday, the windshield of a Palestinian car that was parked in the center of Hebron city, in the southern part of the West Bank, and used a metal barrier to smash its doors.The car was parked at the entrance of the Old City of Hebron; Israeli soldiers smashed its windshield after claiming that “the car was parked near a settler’s outpost” in Ash-Shuhada Street.
The soldiers further used a metal barrier in smashing the doors and trunk of the car before forcing its owner to move it to a different location, away from the illegal settler outpost.
The Hebron district is the largest Palestinian district in the occupied West Bank with more than 600.000 Palestinians living there. The district lost approximately %51 of its land to settlements and outposts since it fell under Israeli occupation in 1967.
The district has been largely impacted by the Israeli Annexation Wall that led to the isolation of more than %60 of Palestinian orchards and farmlands.
Approximately 350-400 Israeli settlers, in addition to more than 200 Yeshiva students, live in the heart of the City of Hebron. More than 6000 settlers living in the Keryat Arba’ settlement in Hebron; there are more than 27 Israeli settlements and 17 settlement outposts in the Hebron district.
Hebron, one of the largest Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank, is home to 250.000 Palestinians, and was supposed, under the Oslo Peace agreements, to be gradually handed to the Palestinians.
In 1997, the city was divided into two main parts; H1, under the “control” of the Palestinian Authority, and H2 under full Israeli control.
Approximately 25.000 Palestinians live in H2 area, in addition to around 350-400 settlers and 200 Yeshiva students; more than 1.000 Israeli soldiers are also deployed in the area.
Illegal Israeli measures in Hebron led to the closure of 1829 Palestinian businesses; 1141 were closed during the second Intifada, and 440 of them were closed under direct Israeli military orders; the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem) reported.
Palestinians living in the Old City of Hebron are subject to frequent attack by extremist settlers living in illegal outposts.
Israel’s settlements in the occupied Palestinians territories, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, and the Fourth Geneva Convention to which Israel is a signatory.
