News / Palestine

Israelis demolish Palestinian structures, detain several

Friday, 08 January 2016 9:52 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 08 January 2016 11:22 AM ]

A young Palestinian Bedouin collects belongings from the remains of makeshift homes demolished by Israel near East al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Jan. 6, 2016. ©AFP

Israeli forces have reportedly demolished a number of Palestinian homes and detained more than a dozen in occupied Palestinian territories over the past few days.

Israeli bulldozers demolished Thursday three homes in East al-Quds’ (Jerusalem) neighborhoods of Beit Safafa and Silwan, which has seen an influx of Israeli settlers over the past years.

Some 14 Palestinian were detained in raids by Israeli troops overnight Thursday, including nine in Ramallah, three in Bethlehem and one in Qalqiliya.

Over the past few days, two Palestinian homes in Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood of occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem) have been demolished by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military also destroyed a mosque in the Palestinian village of Rakhama in Negev desert.

Meanwhile, five Palestinian Bedouin houses and an agricultural structure were razed to the ground in East al-Quds’ (Jerusalem) Abu Nuwwar community.

Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Negotiations Affairs Department slammed what it termed Israel’s “systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians” in Silwan.

The PLO said Tel Aviv’s policies “in Silwan aim not only to alter the historic character of the area and to consolidate Israeli control over the Old City of Jerusalem ... but also contribute to the systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem.”

According to Israeli rights group B’T selem, some 780 Palestinian homes have been destroyed in Silwan over the past 12 years.

The group said some 2,133 Palestinians have been left homeless as a result of the Israeli regime’s demolition of Palestinian homes, which is “illegal under international law.”

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 settlement colonies built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

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