A Palestinian woman weeps as she stands in front of her house that was demolished by Israeli army bulldozers in the village of Hares, near the West Bank city of Nablus, on Wednesday (AFP photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh)Israeli bulldozers, flanked by troops, demolished properties in two West Bank villages on Wednesday, leaving nine Palestinians homeless, Agence France-Presse reported citing Palestinian rights organisations.
The Israeli military confirmed demolition of a home in the village of Khader, near Bethlehem, and what it said was an unfinished and uninhabited building in the northern village of Haris.
A military spokesman said both structures had been put up without the necessary construction permits.
The West Bank-based Popular Struggle Coordination Committee said the Khader building had been home to nine members of the Musa family, including a baby.
Under a 1993 agreement with the Palestinians, Israel has complete control over 60 per cent of the West Bank, where it frequently demolishes unauthorised buildings. Palestinian and Israeli rights groups say that permits to build there are rarely granted, leading to the demolition of thousands of structures over the past decade.
Jewish settlers vandalised a mosque in the West Bank on Wednesday, Reuters cited Palestinian officials as saying, the latest in a series of attacks blamed on settlers that have fuelled tension in the occupied territory.
The Israeli army said the Bilal Ben Rabah Mosque in the village of Hawara near Nablus had been vandalised by “anonymous suspects”. Two cars were also set ablaze in the village. The army condemned the attack and ordered an investigation.
“The Star of David symbol and the word ‘Mohammad’ in Hebrew were among the graffiti painted on the wall of the mosque,” the army said in a statement, adding that the graffiti was erased by the Israeli authorities.
Kamal Odeh, a Hawara resident and representative of the Palestinian Fateh Party, said it was the second time settlers had attacked the village this week. They torched one car and opened fire on a shop in Hawara on Monday, he said.
“The situation is very tense,” said Odeh, 40. “There is real anger.”
The settlers, who live in hilltop enclaves dotted around the area, have grown ever bolder, Palestinians say.
There are around 500,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank and areas near Jerusalem annexed by Israel. Settlers in the Nablus area tend to be religiously-motivated, claiming a biblical link to lands occupied by Israel since 1967.
Major world powers view the settlements as illegal and an obstacle to any Palestinian-Israeli peace deal.
Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors settlement activities in the Nablus governorate, said the rate of settler attacks had increased in the first quarter of this year compared to 2009.
The Israeli authorities have launched investigations into at least two other attacks on Muslim sites in the Nablus area since December. They could not immediately say whether either probe had resulted in charges being brought against suspects.
Palestinians believe Jewish settlers were behind both the December arson attack on a mosque in the village of Yasuf and acts of vandalism in a cemetery in the village of Awarta in January.
The Israeli police arrested one teenager from a Jewish settlement in connection with the Yasuf mosque attack. He was questioned and released without charge.
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