NABLUS, Thursday, February 2, 2023 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Thursday demolished two Palestinian-owned houses in the village of Duma, south of the northern occupied West Bank city of Nablus, sources confirmed.
Suleiman Dawabsheh, head of the Duma village council, told WAFA that a large unit of Israeli forces, accompanied by a military bulldozer, raided the eastern part of the village and demolished two houses belonging to local residents Mohammad Ali and Khaled Muleihat under the pretext that they were built in Area C.
He added that one house is 160 square meters of space, while the other is 200 square meters.
Dawabsheh said that Israeli authorities issued 200 notices of demolition against houses in the village, expressing concern that this may lead to more house demolition and displacement of the residents.
He noted that the village residents, who are about 3500 people, are going through a legal battle in Israeli courts to defend their homes against Israeli demolition.
Duma is surrounded by several illegal Israeli settlements.
Israeli 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 there building permits and provides them with roads, electricity, water, and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.
