Israeli Bulldozers Demolish 10 Houses in Qalansawe, Palestinians Declare General Strike

Rasa - Israeli bulldozers demolished 10 houses in the city of Qalansawe in Israel, under the pretext they were built without a permit, according to sources close to the affected people.

News ID: 426460

Date: 11 January 2017 - 21:31

RNA - Israeli police accompanied the bulldozers when they raided Qalansawe in order to demolish 10 houses in the Northwestern area of the city, WAFA reported.

Witnesses said the owners tried to stop the bulldozers as an attempt to stop them from demolishing the houses, but the Israeli police restricted the area and arrested a young man during clashes.

Abd Basset Salame, head of Qalansawe municipality, resigned from his position as the Israeli bulldozers were demolishing the houses.

He said, “As head of Qalansawe municipality who doesn’t have the power to change anything, I decided to resign to the ministry of interior.”

Reacting to the development Palestinians have declared a general strike on Wednesday to protest of demolition of the homes in the town of Qalansowa, in Central Israel.

The strike was called for by the Higher Arab Follow-up Committee, an independent political organization tasked with coordinating the political actions of various Israeli-Arab bodies.

The committee called on all Palestinian sectors in Israel to observe a general strike to protest what it said was collective campaign of demolitions of Palestinian homes under the pretext they were built without a permit.

The strike however excludes healthcare services and private education institutions, the website said.

The demolition of the Qalansowa homes came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called for demolition of Arab homes reportedly built without permit to avenge an Israeli High Court decision to demolish homes in the illegal Amona settlement built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

While the Amona homes are still in place two years after the court order and the Israeli government is still fighting the demolition and eviction order, it went ahead and demolished Palestinian homes in Qalansowa.

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