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Photo:
Scene. Published by Maan News
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian from Beit Jala City, in the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem, was forced to demolish his own home upon order by the Israeli authorities, on Tuesday.

Locals said that resident of the Bir Ouna area, Ayman Zreineh, demolished his own two-floor home upon receiving an order by the Israeli authorities to carry out the demolition within 48 hours, under the pretext that the house was built without an Israeli-issued building permit.

Sources added that six houses, belonging to the Zreineh family, were recently demolished in the Bir Ouna area.

Israeli bulldozers had demolished another Palestinian home in the area one week ago, under the same pretext.

Bir Ouna is classified as Area C and is under Israeli military control.
Nearly all Palestinian applications for building permits in Area C are denied by the Israeli authorities, forcing communities to build illegally.

According to Palestinians and rights groups, Israel’s overall goal, both in its policies in Area C and Israel’s settlement enterprise, is to depopulate the land of its Palestinian residents and replace them with Jewish Israeli communities in order to manipulate population demographics in all of historic Palestine.

Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, although the estimated 550,000 Jewish Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory are more easily given building permits and allowed to expand their homes and properties.