Israeli troops reportedly blocked, on Friday morning, reconstruction of a local street in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Local municipality sources told media outlets that Israeli troops stormed the Almaqbara or Cemetery street in the Rashayda village, east of Bethlehem and ordered municipal workers, by force, to stop reconstruction works on the said street.
The sources added that Israeli soldiers forced those workers to remove all their equipment and machines from the street immediately, otherwise they would be taken into custody.
Sources noted that the Israeli prevention of reconstruction was attributed to what the invading Israeli army force said that the area, where reconstruction was taking place, is under full Israeli control, classified by signed Palestinian-Israeli accords as area C.
In a similar incident, Israeli troops reportedly blocked Palestinian digging works in the village of Artas, south of Bethlehem city. No reasons for the obstruction were reported.
Recently, Israeli leaders have signalled plans to seize full control of large parts of the occupied West Bank, by annexing Palestinian land.
The annexation plan was met with vehement rejection by the Palestinian leadership and other regional and international players, as it preempts a final status solution between Palestinians and Israelis, based on a long-envisioned two-state solution.
Palestinian Authority (PA) president, Mahmoud Abbas, declared last week that all previously-signed accords with Israel, including security ones, are no longer valid, in response to Israeli annexation plans.
Image: Alray
