Demolition orders handed down in Nablus village

Ma'an – Israel's Civil Administration handed down three stop work orders to residents in the Nablus village of Burqa on Tuesday, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Ghassan Doughlas, who heads the northern West Bank settlement file, said the Israeli army accompanied Civil Administration staff to deliver the orders to Muhammad Hamed Hajjeh, Jamal Radi Seif, Hilal Hamdeh Hijjeh.

The outskirts of the village fall under Area C, 60 percent of the West Bank which is under full Israeli security, planning, and construction control.

The orders, known locally as "demolition orders," demand that home owners appear before a magistrates court to defend allegations. Because legal action at the court rarely succeeds, the stop work orders essentially constitute a demolition order.

According to a weekly situation report compiled by the UN Office for Coordination and Humanitarian Affairs, in 2010, Israeli authorities demolished 70 Palestinian-owned structures in the Area C across the West Bank, displacing 129 people, compared to 163 structures demolished, displacing 319 people, in the equivalent period in 2009.