Illegitimate zionist regime demolishes Palestinian homes in West Bank

Israeli bulldozers demolished a number of homes in Deir Hajla in the city of Ariha (Jericho) on Wednesday.

The demolitions left eight bedouin families displaced, including children, women and elderly.

The Palestinian Information Center reported that the Israeli authorities have demolished 15 residential and commercial buildings and razed vast tracts of farmland since Tuesday.

Israeli authorities demolish Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank usually claiming that the structures have been built without permits. They also sometimes order the Palestinian owners to demolish their own homes or pay the demolition costs to the municipality.

The latest demolitions come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would start plans for annexing more areas in the occupied West Bank on July 1, in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s scheme, further infuriating Palestinians.

Trump officially unveiled his scheme in January at the White House with Netanyahu on his side, while Palestinian representatives were not invited.

The proposal gives in to Israel’s demands while creating a Palestinian state with limited control over its own security and borders, enshrining the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds as “Israel’s undivided capital” and allowing the Tel Aviv regime to annex settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.

Trump’s highly provocative scheme, which further denies the right of return to Palestinian refugees, is also in complete disregard of UN Security Council resolutions and rejected by the vast majority of the international community.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital. But Israel’s aggressive settlement expansion and annexation plans have dealt a serious blow to any prospects of peace.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.