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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces closed a rural road in the al-Makhrour area of Beit Jala on Thursday, witnesses told Ma'an.

Israeli forces arrived with bulldozers and closed off 500 meters of a road on land belonging to the Shaban family from Duheisha refugee camp, locals said.

In May, the Mayor of Beit Jala Raji Zeidan said that Israeli forces have been targeting the al-Makhrour area in an effort to force residents to leave their land for settlement expansion.

Israeli forces demolished a restaurant in Beit Jala on May 3 under the pretext of lacking a building permit.

In April, troops demolished four ancient buildings and uprooted 52 electricity poles in al-Makhrour.

In October 2011, soldiers issued a military order to confiscate 37,000 square meters of private land from near the Cremisan Monastery in Beit Jala.

In December, Israeli forces demolished several houses in the al-Makhrour area under the pretext they lacked building permits.

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BETHLEHEM, August 2, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Thursday razed an agricultural road and demolished facilities of a restaurant and a house, west of Beit Jala, in the Bethlehem governorate, said local sources.

They said that a bulldozer accompanying large Israeli forces razed an agricultural road; the bulldozing process ended by closing the 500-meters road.

The soldiers raided al-Makhrur area and demolished a restaurant’s kitchen and a house‘s columns-- both were destroyed before and re-built-- that belongs to Palestinians.

It is not the first time the occupation army raid this area; it was raided last May, when the soldiers destroyed electricity poles, closed agricultural roads and demolished a restaurant and green houses.

This area is constantly targeted by settlers to its proximity to the settlements of Gilo, Betar Illit and Gush Atsion, south of Bethlehem, as well as the Apartheid Wall.

M.H./F.R.