Israeli forces today ordered a halt on the construction of a water well east of Ad-Dhahiriya town, near Hebron (Al-Khalil), according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Member of the Popular Committees in Southern Hebron, Rateb al-Jbour, told WAFA that Israeli forces stormed Khirbet Zanouta, near the illegal Jewish settlement of Atniel, where they detained a Palestinian as he was constructing a well to collect rainwater and seized the excavation machines, under the pretext that the area is classified Area C.
Israeli occupation halt the construction of water well in Hebron https://t.co/yUTlbkDqAT
— Joe Catron (@jncatron) December 22, 2020
Khirbet Zanouta has become a frequent target for Israeli forces, who have torn down tents and livestock shacks as a means to displace the residents and make room for the expansion of colonial settlements.
Israel demolishes Palestinian houses and structures almost on a daily basis as a means to achieve “demographic control” of the occupied territories.
Israel denies planning permits for Palestinians to build on their own land or to extend existing houses to accommodate natural growth, particularly in Jerusalem and Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and falls under full Israeli military rule, forcing residents to build without obtaining rarely-granted permits to provide shelters for their families.
As #Israel Destroys #EU Projects in #Palestine, #European Foreign Policy Remains Impotent https://t.co/Ss0bvwoBPm via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/sMjydyHtpb
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 22, 2020
In contrast, Israel argues that building within existing colonial settlements is necessary to accommodate the “natural growth” of settlers. Therefore, it much more easily gives the estimated 700,000 Jewish Israeli settlers their building permits and provides them with roads, electricity, water and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.
(WAFA, PC, Social Media)
