ISRAELI FORCES DELIVER STOP-WORK NOTICES IN HEBRON

A Palestinian man watches as an Israeli bulldozer demolishes a house  in Khirbit al-Tawil in the northern West Bank on Oct. 29, 2013  (Photo: AFP/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)
A Palestinian man watches as an Israeli bulldozer demolishes a house
in Khirbit al-Tawil in the northern West Bank on Oct. 29, 2013
(Photo: AFP/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)

Hebron, 9 Jumadil Akhir 1436/ 29 March 2015 (MINA)- Israeli authorities delivered a notice to halt construction on a concrete factory, as well as on a home and agricultural road, in the Hebron district late Thursday.

Coordinator of a local popular committee in southern Hebron, Rateb al-Jubour, said that Israeli forces raided the al-Bweib area in eastern Yatta late Thursday to deliver the stop-work notices.

The home belonged to Ahmad Muhammad Hassan Daajneh, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Al-Jubour condemned the ongoing systematic attempts by Israeli forces to deport Palestinians from their lands, calling on all humanitarian and international institutions to intervene to end such procedures.

Thursday’s raid came just days after Israeli forces delivered notices to halt construction at Palestinian residences in the same area, raiding the Deir Moussa area in northwestern Surif in order to deliver stop-work notices to six houses.

Additionally, in the villages Khirbet al-Fakhin and Khirbet Janba in eastern Yatta, coordinator of a local popular committee, Rateb al-Jubur, reported this week that Israeli forces and the Israeli civil administration had delivered notices to demolish three rooms and a tent belonging to Muhammad Mahmoud Hushiyeh, Issam Muhammad Makhamreh and Ali Muhammad al-Jabarin.

An Israeli army spokeswoman did not have any immediate information on the incidents, but told Ma’an that the Israeli army issues such notices when residences are built “illegally.”

Palestinian residents throughout the Hebron district face a continual threat of demolition or displacement.

Al-Bweib and other villages that recently received stop-work orders are located in the south Hebron hills, where the illegal presence of around 3,000 Israeli settlers comes at the expense of Palestinian residents’ ability to build homes and infrastructure.

Building permits must be approved by Israeli authorities in order for construction to take place in the villages, which are classified as Area C under the Oslo Accords, giving Israel full military and civil control.

As a result of rarely-approved permits, Palestinian residents are forced to build structures without permits, which are liable to be torn down later by Israeli forces.

While settlements in the south Hebron hills, in addition to six Israeli outposts, are supplied electricity by Israel, Palestinian villages have been refused access to the power lines that crisscross their land, and Israeli forces have torn down at least three attempts to connect to the Palestinian Authority electrical grid.

The Israeli practice of preventing either construction or expansion of Palestinian buildings in the Hebron area extends across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Around 552 Palestinian structures have been demolished since the start of 2015, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. (T/P010/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)