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by IMEMC & Agencies

[Monday October 28, 2013] Israeli soldiers invaded Jabal Al-Mokabber area, south of occupied East Jerusalem, and demolished two rooms and a shed that belong to a Palestinian resident.

The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that the two demolished rooms were approximately 100 square meters, topped with tin roofs, and have been inhabited by Mousa Shqeirat and his four family members since the year 2000.

WAFA added that dozens of soldiers invaded the area after declaring it a closed military zone, and demolished the two rooms and a shed.

The family said they will remain in their land despite the ongoing Israeli aggression and attempts to remove them, and that they intend to install a tent to shelter themselves during the upcoming winter season.

Israel’s home demolition policies have targeted tens of thousands of homes and properties in different parts of occupied Palestine, including occupied Jerusalem, since Israel illegally occupied the rest of Palestine in 1967.

Home demolitions are illegal under International Law as they are forms of collective punishment that affect Palestinian families, especially the children.

Israel has demolished more than 27,000 Palestinian homes in the occupied territories since 1967.

Israeli soldiers destroyed and demolished some 4,170 Palestinian homes in the period between September 2000, when the Second Palestinian Intifada started, and November 2004.

The Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) has reported that following the six-day war in June 1967, Israel started practicing a range of policies leading to the displacement of more than 160,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The year 2011 witnessed the largest number of home demolitions as Israeli soldiers demolished nearly 622 structures, leaving at least 222 families (roughly 1094 Palestinians) homeless.