On Monday, Israeli soldiers invaded the Al-Walaja village, northwest of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, and demolished a Palestinian home.
Khader Al-A’raj, the head of the Al-Walaja Village Council, said the soldiers invaded the Ein Jweiza in the village, and demolished a home, under the pretext of being built without a permit.
Al-A’raj added that the demolished home is owned by Fadi Abu Rezeq and was an 85 square meter property on his land.
Al-Walaja faces repeated Israeli violations and attacks by the soldiers and the paramilitary colonizers; many of its homes and structures have already been demolished, and many other buildings are facing the same threats.
The Israeli violations against al-Walaja started in the 1980s when Israel implemented its plans to annex the Palestinian lands to build its illegal colonies, by denying all construction permits filed by the Palestinians, in addition to dividing the lands, zoning and designating large areas as “green zones,” to prevent the Palestinians from using them, not to mention surrounding them with the illegal Annexation Wall.
Al-Walaja is already surrounded by the illegal colonies on Gilo, Har Gilo, Givat HaMatos, and Har Homa, which were all built on stolen Palestinian lands, in addition to the large areas of lands that were annexed when Israel paved roads leading to these colonies, installing railways and designating lands as natural reserves, off-limits to the Palestinians.
On Sunday, Israeli soldiers invaded the Dyouk At-Tahta village, west of Jericho in the occupied West Bank’s northeastern part and demolished two homes.
On Sunday evening, the Israeli army and the police forced a Palestinian family to demolish its home in the Ein Al-Louza neighborhood in Silwan town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem, in the West Bank.
The Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission said Israel demolished 318 Palestinian structures in the West Bank in the first half of this year, and 313 structures in 2023.
Since the beginning of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, after October 7, 2023, Israel seriously escalated its demolition of homes and property across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, especially in Area C (About %60 of the West Bank”, in addition to the constant assaults and violations by the illegal paramilitary colonizers.
Only 30 percent of Area C land is designated for development by Palestinians. The remaining 70 percent is classified as closed military zones that are off-limits to Palestinians unless they obtain special permits from Israeli authorities.
These stringent restrictions on Palestinians’ spatial development continue to intensify even though without Area C, a Palestinian state is inconceivable. Indeed, Area C holds valuable natural resources and a rich cultural heritage, and it represents the bulk of available areas for the spatial development of a future Palestinian state. Read More: Israel’s Stranglehold on Area C: Development as Resistance – Ahmad El-Atrash – Al-Shabaka
