Israel demolished 143 Palestinian homes in January

An official Palestinian committee announced on Sunday that the Israeli occupation authorities demolished 143 Palestinian homes this month, Arab48.com has reported. The figure is double the number of homes destroyed by the Israelis in January 2016.

The Anti-Israeli Settlement and Wall Committee said that occupation forces carried out most of the demolitions in the areas where it is planning to establish new illegal settlements or expand existing colonies for Jewish settlers.

The Information Director of the Committee, Qasim Awwad, said that there has been an increase in the demolition of Palestinian homes compared to the increase in building new settlement units. “The Israeli authorities built three new settlements in the Jordan Valley, Nablus and Hebron,” explained Awwad. He noted that a new settlement generally starts by placing makeshift housing units on Palestinian land and then connecting them to mains electricity and water services. They then develop into full settlements.

The Israeli government has recently approved even more new settlement units in the occupied Palestinian territories, in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 2334.

Palestinian MP Mustafa Al-Barghouti pointed out that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not miss any opportunity to let everyone know of his government’s settlement policy. He called for the people to wake up and confront Netanyahu’s settlement plans.