HEBRON
Israeli bulldozers on Thursday demolished a Palestinian cattle barn in the West Bank city of Hebron on the pretext that it lacked a building license, eyewitnesses have said.
Three Israeli bulldozers pushed into the town of Burg on Hebron's outskirts, where they demolished the 2,000-square-meter structure, which had been owned by a Palestinian man named Mohamed Masharqa.
Israeli forces had earlier informed Masharqa and other Palestinian barn owners that the structures would be demolished, ostensibly due to the lack of construction licenses.
Israeli officials were not immediately available to comment on the demolitions.
Israel typically prevents Palestinians in the West Bank's "Area C" – established in line with the Oslo Accords – from erecting structures in the area on grounds that the land is "Israeli territory."
The U.S.-sponsored Oslo Accords, signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 1993 and 1995, divided the West Bank into areas A, B and C.
Area C, which constitutes nearly two thirds of the West Bank's total territory, remains – in line with the terms of the accords – under full Israeli security and civilian control.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the city of Jerusalem in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state in a move never recognized by the international community.
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