Israeli bulldozers accompanied by hundreds of soldiers and police moved in to Palestinian village of Sur Baher, to demolish about 100 homes in Wadi al-Hummus. The area is closed to the separation wall.
The Israeli military considers the homes close to the barrier – that criss-crosses the occupied West Bank-locally called as “apartheid wall” – a security risk.
The Israeli Supreme Court ruled in favour of the military last month – an act, Palestinians will set a precedent for other towns along the route of the barrier, which runs for hundreds of kilometres around and through the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Palestinians accuse Israel of using security as a pretext to force them out of the area as part of long-term efforts to expand settlements. All settlements on occupied Palestinian lands are illegal under international law.
They also point out that most of the buildings in Wadi al-Hummus area, located inside Sur Baher, are meant to be under the Palestinian Authority and civilian control under the 1993 Oslo accords.
Sur Baher, a Palestinian village on the edge of the occupied East Jerusalem, was captured and occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.
