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Israeli forces demolish two Palestinian houses near Hebron March 19, 2008 Bethlehem – Ma'an – Israeli police and military forces began to demolish two houses in villages south of the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday morning, witness said.
International human rights workers with the organization Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) said that Israeli forces invaded the villages of Umm Navel, Khirbat Bdairat, and Umm Al-Kher Al-Faqir on Wednesday morning and proceeded to destroy the two buildings.
Hebron Governorate Cartographer Abdul-Hadi Hantash told Ma'an's correspondent that the Israeli forces demolished homes of Yasser Al-Adra from Khirbat Bdairat. The house was built dozens of years ago, close to Israeli settlement of Mazadot Yehuda. The other house, according to the official, belonged to Muhammad Abu Qbaita in the village of Imneizil, and it was demolished to make way for an Israeli road between two settlements south of Hebron. Hantash warned that if construction of the road is to be completed, dozens of Palestinian houses will be demolished. All of the structures are in Area "C" as designated by the Oslo accords, a zone of full Israeli military control. Construction permits for Palestinians in Area C are next to impossible to obtain, resulting in a high rate of demolitions. Dozens of other buildings in the area of the three villages, including a mosque, are at risk of destruction, CPT said. Israeli police are also headed to the nearby village of At-Tuwani. According to the Israeli group Peace Now, between 2000 and September 2007, only 91 construction permits were issued to Palestinians in Area C, compared to 4,993 demolition orders.
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