Jerusalem: The Israeli occupation authorities on Monday evening delivered demolition notices against three houses in the Arab al-Kaabneh community, northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Jerusalem, according to a local activist.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, Hasan Mlaihat, supervisor of the al-Baidar Organization in Defense of Bedouin Rights, reported that the occupation authorities notified three brothers in the community of the imminent intention to tear down their dwellings, where the latter had been living for over 40 years.
Israel demolishes Palestinian houses and structures almost daily as a means to achieve 'demographic control' of the occupied territories. The Israeli government denies planning permits for Palestinians to build on their own land or to extend existing houses to accommodate natural growth, particularly in Jerusalem and Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and falls under full Israeli military rule. This forces residents to build without obtaining rarely-granted permits to provide shelters for their families.
In contrast, Israel argues that building within existing colonies is necessary to accommodate the 'natural growth' of colonists. Therefore, it much more easily gives the estimated 1,000,000 Jewish Israeli colonists there building permits and provides them with roads, electricity, water, and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.
