Israel demolishes more Palestinian homes in West bank

Israeli forces have demolished the homes of two Palestinian men after accusing them of involvement in an alleged bomb attack in the occupied West Bank.

News ID: 449451

Date: 06 March 2020 - 10:13

RNA - The Israeli military in a statement said that soldiers on Thursday razed the home of Walid Hanatsheh in Ramallah and Yazan Mughamis in the nearby town of Birzeit.

It said Palestinians hurled rocks and petrol bombs at troops and burned tires in protest during the demolitions, while soldiers responded with unspecified "riot dispersal means".

The family of Kasim Shibli, another detained suspect, has been notified that his home in Kobar near Ramallah is also to be demolished.

Palestinians said the fourth suspect, Samer al-Arbeed, rents his home, which can therefore not be demolished.

Israeli claims the explosion on August 23 last year, near a spring close to the settlement of Dolev, killed a 17-year-old Israeli female and wounded her father and brother.

Four men were subsequently rounded up, accused of planting the roadside bomb as members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They have not been charged yet.

In September 2019, interrogators with Israel’s internal security agency Shin Bet brutally tortured them so as that one of the Palestinian men was hospitalized with kidney failure and 11 broken ribs.

Several other Palestinians swept up by the Israeli agency say they were threatened, beaten, forced into painful stress positions, and denied sleep.

The Public Committee Against Torture, an Israeli body, says more than 1,200 complaints have been filed against Shin Bet since 2001, without even one going to trial.

Tel Aviv already uses the “administrative detention” which enables it to arrest Palestinians without any charge.

Israel has razed the homes of hundreds of Palestinians for their alleged involvement in attacks against Israelis. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly condemned the move as a violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits collective punishment.

Israeli authorities also demolish Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank usually claiming that the residential structures have been built without the relevant building permits. Israeli authorities sometimes order the Palestinian owners to demolish their own homes or else the municipality would charge them for the demolition costs.

The Israeli rights group, B’Tselem, said in a report last year that Tel Aviv uses other strategies to block Palestinian use of land, or demolish the homes Palestinians have already built, thus, clearing the way for new Israeli settlements in the region.

According to Fars News Agency, Israeli authorities may declare Palestinian-owned land as “open scenic areas,” where development is prohibited, or as “national parks,” where construction and urban development are almost entirely forbidden.

In other parts of the occupied territories, vast swaths of land, including towns and villages, may be declared to be “military zones” almost as a matter of routine, and Palestinians are forced to leave their homes for set periods when the military moves in.

In addition,  the attacks, thefts and vandalism by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their lands are coordinated ahead of time with the Israeli military. Furthermore, most of such attacks are met with impunity, with those guilty rarely facing any consequences.

In recent years, Israeli settlers have been frequently caught on camera vandalizing Palestinian farms in the occupied West Bank and stealing their olive harvests.

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