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Israel to demolish Palestinian homes in Ni’lin

June 1, 2021 at 12:04 pm

An Israeli soldier and border guard stand by as an excavator demolishes a Palestinian house in the West Bank on March 8, 2021 [HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images]

Israel’s occupation authorities issued demolition orders on Monday for ten Palestinian houses in the villages of Ni’lin and Deir Qaddis, west of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, Wafa news agency has reported. According to a local Palestinian official, the owners of the homes have legal building permits issued by the Palestinian Authority.

Emad Khawaja, the head of the Ni’lin village council, told Wafa that the issue of building licences in the area comes under the civil jurisdiction of the PA. However, he explained that Israel claims that the houses are built too near the fence that separates the Palestinian land from illegal settlements being built in the occupied territory.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces dismantled four tents, including two residential structures, in a village in Masafer Yatta in the south of the West Bank. This led to the forced displacement of fifteen Palestinians and their livestock, said Rateb Jabour, the spokesman of the Wall and Settlements Resistance Commission.

Jabour noted that the Israelis confiscated the tents, and pointed out that the village is near the illegal settlement of Beni Hefer. The settlers intend to expand the settlement at the expense of the Palestinian villages in the area after first expelling their residents.

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