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BETHLEHEM (PIC) 26 July -- Israeli bulldozers began early Tuesday morning plowing through ''vast'' Palestinian farmlands and uprooting olive trees to pave the way for an extension of the apartheid wall in Al-Walaja village in western Bethlehem province.

Tensions enveloped the village as Israeli soldiers have suppressed locals, reporters, and dozens of outside supporters who emerged to help stop the operation, locals said. Protests managed to foil the operation for a few hours until heavy back-up arrived at the scene. Locals said over sixty olive and pine trees were torn down in the excavations.

Elsewhere, an Israeli planning committee has notified locals in the Malih area of northern Jordan Valley that it would tear down dozens of local structures, including shacks and nomadic tents. The structures were built allegedly without permits on what the Israeli army has declared a military zone. The committee officials handed out a total of 35 notices, a local has told our correspondent.

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