Bethlehem/Jenin /PNN/ 

 Israeli forces Wednesday demolished two Palestinian-owned houses in the village of al-Walaja, northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, sources confirmed.

Khader al-'Araj, head of al-Walaja village council, told PNN that Israeli forces raided the said village and demolished a house owned by local resident Othman al-Shweiki.

Additionally, the forces also demolished another house owned by resident Khitam Ridwan.

Al-'Araj noted that the both house are 120 square meters of space each and were demolished under the pretext that they were built without a permit.

Areas in al-Walaja are continiously targeted by Israeli forces who aim to force Palestinian residents out of their lands.

Also in Jenin the Israeli bulldozers Wednesday morning razed two houses in Jalbun village, northeast of Jenin city, according to local sources.

Head of Jalbun Village Council, Ibrahim Abul-Rub, said that Israeli forces escorted two military bulldozers into the village, where the heavy machineries demolished a 200-square-meter house under construction of Khaled Abul-Rub and a 120-square-meter house belonging to Amir Abu Seif, purportedly for being constructed without licenses.

He added that the demolition of family house of Abu Seif resulted in the displacement of his five-member family while pointing that the houses are adjacent to the section of Israel’s apartheid wall that runs from Salem checkpoint to the village and constructed entirely within the occupied West Bank.

During ensuing confrontations, the gun-toting soldiers fired volleys of stun grenades and tear gas canisters towards local youths attempting to block their passage, hitting Head of the Village Council by a tear gas canister in the ear.

He was rushed to a hospital for treatment.

Israel demolishes Palestinian houses and structures almost on a daily basis as a means to achieve “demographic control” of the occupied territories.

Israel denies planning permits for Palestinians to build on their own land or to extend existing houses to accommodate natural growth, particularly in Jerusalem and Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and falls under full Israeli military rule, forcing residents to build without obtaining rarely-granted permits to provide shelters for their families.

In contrast, Israel argues that building within existing colonial settlements is necessary to accommodate the “natural growth” of settlers. Therefore, it much more easily gives over 700,000 Jewish Israeli settlers there building permits and provides them with roads, electricity, water and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.