Haaretz, Aug. 19, 2015

Since the beginning of the year Israel has demolished over 300 Palestinian structures - the purpose is clear: to pressure local Palestinians to leave the Israeli controlled Area C.

Palestinian flag and tents in Susiya village, south of the West Bank city of Hebron July 20, 2015.Reuters

Bulldozers and inspectors from the Civil Administration, accompanied by an Israel Defense Forces unit, demolished 22 structures in four Bedouin communities east of Jerusalem and north of Ma’aleh Adumim on Monday morning – 11 were residential buildings and the rest pens for goats and sheep and other agriculture structures. Undeterred by the intense heat, the Civil Administration took only a few hours to deprive 74 people, including 48 children, together with their flocks, of the roofs over their heads in the communities of a-Sa’idi, Wadi Shneisel, Bir al-Maksub and Abu-Falah, in the Khan al-Ahmar area.

[...] The buildings were constructed without a permit, because Israel has refused and still refuses to prepare a master plan for the Palestinian communities living in what is today defined as Area C. The purpose of the ongoing demolitions is transparent: To pressure the Bedouin into agreeing to plans that would concentrate them in permanent towns, and to evict them and the rest of the Palestinians from Area C to Areas A and B, which are under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

In that way, more and more space will be available for the construction and expansion of settlements. And, when the time comes, Israel will be able to say that because so few Palestinians live in about 60 percent of the West Bank and there are so many Israelis, it has a right to annex the territory.


http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.671841