Israeli settlers have moved into a Palestinian house in the heart of the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron).
On Sunday, the Israeli minister of military affairs approved the return of settlers. In March, an Israeli court ruled that the settlers are the owners of the house.
The Palestinian owner of the house said the four-story building has been taken over by settlers several times in the past.
Palestinians accompanied by international solidarity activists gathered in front of the house to protest the confiscation of the building by Israeli settlers backed by Israeli forces.
According to Palestinian political observers, Tel Aviv’s aim of confiscating this house is to tie the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba to other illegal Israeli settlements located inside the old city.
In 2013, more than 1,000 people were displaced in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) after their homes were demolished for not having Israeli permits. This is while the office of James Rawley, the UN humanitarian coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territories, said the demolitions took place even though the permits “are virtually impossible to obtain.”
Human rights groups have voiced concern over the rising number of Palestinian home demolitions in the occupied territories.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.
IA/MAM/AS
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