Israeli bulldozers demolish a Palestinian home in the West Bank village of El-Khader, near Bethlehem on April 14, 2010.[MaanImages/Luay Sababa]
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Wednesday evening handed five demolition orders to Palestinians from Khallet al-Hajjar village, south Hebron, a local community organizer said.
Popular committee coordinator in Yatta Rateb al-Jabour said the Israeli demolition orders were issued for "security reasons."
Suleiman Salem Suleiman Abu Shkhedem, his brother, Ahmad Salameh Salem Abu Shkhedem, Odeh Hasan Salem Abu Shkhedem and Abdullah Suleiman Azazma all received demolition orders for their homes, al-Jabour said.
Five families will be displaced when the orders are carried out, al-Jabour said, adding that they have no where else to go.
Israeli authorities have demolished 387 Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied territories in 2011, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says.
Over 95 percent of these demolitions have occurred in Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and security control.
Palestinian construction is effectively prohibited in most of Area C. Meanwhile there are 135 illegal Israeli settlements and over 300,000 settlers in Area C, with the settler population growing significantly faster than that of Israel proper, OCHA reported.
From 2000 to 2007, the Israeli Civil Administration approved 5 percent of the applications for building permits submitted by Palestinians in Area C.
The total number of building permits issued to Palestinians during these seven years was 91, an average of 13 building permits per annum, Israeli organization Bimkom reported.
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