Israel halts construction of Palestinian facilities in Bethlehem

Israeli occupation authorities issued stop-work orders to Palestinians building homes and farming structures in the village of Nahalin in the west of Bethlehem, Quds Press reported yesterday.

The Israeli occupation authorities stopped the work claiming the structures were being built without the necessary licenses.

According to Quds Press, the house belongs to Samer Shakarneh and the farming structure belongs to Sharif Najajreh.

Occupation forces also confiscated a mobile house belonging to Belal Fannoun in the same area.

Israel demolished 538 Palestinian homes and facilities across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in 2018, leaving 1,300 Palestinians and 225 children homeless.

READ: Israel seizes 1,200 dunams of Palestinian land for new settlement 

According to Israeli rights group B’Tselem, from 2006 to 31 December 2018 occupation forces have demolished at least 1,401 Palestinian residential units in the West Bank (not including East Jerusalem), causing 6,207 people – including at least 3,134 minors – to lose their homes.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation demolished the homes of at least 1,014 Palestinians in Israel who live in unrecognised communities during that period. Some 485 minors were made homeless as a result. Some of the homes were demolished more than once.

In addition, B’Tselem said, from January 2016 through to 31 December  2018, the Civil Administration demolished 630 non-residential structures (such as fences, cisterns, roads, storerooms, farming buildings, businesses and public buildings) in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem).