Israeli forces destroy 20 coal production facilities near Jenin

Yesterday, Wednesday June 22, Israeli army bulldozers and machinery razed to the ground some twenty facilities for the production of coal in the village of Barta’a which is situated in the northern West Bank. The facilities were destroyed without previous warning and the owners were prevented by the army from extinguishing the flames following the demolition.

Palestinian sources in Jenin said that: “These facilities belonged to Fared Hassan Qassem Kabha, Jamal Sharif Amarna, Noor Ibrahim Amarna, Bassam Mohammed Khatib, Sabri Hassan Kabha, Sufyan Hussain Zaid, Ziad Tawfiq Zeid, Faiz Mohammed Khatib and Hassan Abdel Kahtib.”

Tawfiq Kabha, a member of the council of Barta’a village, said: “A huge Israeli military force, accompanied by six Israeli military bulldozers, embarked on demolishing and destroying coal facilities under the pretext that they did not have licenses and that the smoke affects the Israeli settlements near Barta’a.”

In his a statement to “Quds Press”, Kabha valued the loss at millions of shekels, asserting that the occupation had confiscated several pieces of heavy machinery from the coal facilities.

Kabha noted that the coal facilities that were demolished were “the main source of livelihood for hundreds of workers and families in the village of Barta’a and other neighbouring Palestinian villages” adding that the industry “had been established in this town and the neighbouring towns since the days of Ottoman rule in Palestine.”