Israeli court decides to demolish Palestinian village in W. Bank

About 25 Palestinian families would be forced to leave their homes and agricultural lands in the village of Khirbet Tana, located within the territory of the Beit Furik town, east of Nablus, after the Israeli high court rejected the objection made by human rights organizations on behalf of the families.

The objection called for not demolishing the villagers' houses and for preparing a structural blueprint for the village instead of taking such an unjust step in violation of human rights.

The human rights organizations confirmed that the Israeli arbitrary policy of land planning in the occupied Palestinian lands do not allow the villagers, the natives of Khirbet Tana, to obtain building permits which forces them to choose between the unauthorized construction or to remain without housing.

During the court proceedings, the representative of the IOA admitted that even if the Palestinian villagers wanted to process building permits according to the law, their chance of obtaining such permits would be very small.

Lawyer Nasrat Dhakor, from the association of civil rights, revealed that the IOA is always eager to demolish homes of Palestinians despite the fact that they are the owners of lands, while it allows the illegal settlements and outposts to expand such as the settlement of Givat Aolm, which was built near the village without a permit and its Israeli settlers conduct construction activities without any disturbance.

Palestinian local sources affirmed that the Israeli decision of demolishing the Khirbet Tana homes was taken in favor of the Israeli Makhora settlement adjacent to the village and not in the interest of the Palestinian citizens who have been living on this land for hundreds of years.

In another development, the IOA demolished Wednesday morning two Palestinian houses in the Issawiya neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem belonging to Nafed Naddad and Ahmed Obaid at the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Since the early morning, the area had witnessed an intense presence of IOF troops who sealed off the area during the process of demolition.

The IOA had intensified recently the demolition of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem after Nir Barakat, an extremist Zionist right-winger, was elected for the presidency of the municipality.

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