Razing Of Palestinian Homes Picking Up Speed

[Purveyor]

By Catrina Stewart in Jerusalem, Thursday, 23 June 2011

Israel has stepped up demolitions of Palestinian homes in the Jordan Valley, the eastern part of the occupied West Bank, leaving more than 700 homeless since the beginning of the year, a rights body said yesterday.

Israeli bulldozers have razed 103 homes so far this year, said B'Tselem, a respected Israeli human rights organisation, marking a sharp increase from the 83 homes it said were demolished last year. The policy has drawn sharp condemnation from NGOs, which accuse Israel of deliberately displacing thousands of Palestinian rural communities in a strategic border area that the Jewish state considers critical to its security.

--CLIP
Israel has defended its demolitions policy on the grounds that homes were erected without building permits or within military firing zones, a reasoning derided by rights bodies, who say it is almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain permits in Area C, the Israeli-controlled parts of the West Bank that include the Jordan Valley.

"Israeli policy is intended as... a de facto annexation of the Jordan Valley," said Sarit Michaeli, B'Tselem's spokeswoman. "The Jordan Valley is an occupied area... perceived by the government and the vast majority of Israelis as part of Israel."

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/razing-of-palestinian-homes-picking-up-speed-2301367.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Why doesn't the U.N. say something?

[bemildred]

2. Shhhhh! Don't mention this. It's purely a coincidence. nt

[Jefferson23]

3. Another step forward for peace...woohoo. n/t

[classysassy]

4. What would happen

if the Palestinians destroyed Israeli homes?I am sure the American congress would send BiBi another three billion dollars,the UN would denounce the Palestinians as invaders and pass another resolution denouncing them as evil terrorist.