Israel razes Palestinian building in occupied E. J'lem

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM - Israeli forces on Tuesday demolished a Palestinian-owned residential building in occupied East Jerusalem's Shufat refugee camp.

The house was reportedly razed on the pretext that it had been built “without official permission”.

According to witnesses, Israeli police, accompanied by municipal workers, used heavy machinery to demolish the two-story building, which was still under construction.

In recent years, Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality has ordered the demolition of Palestinian homes with increasing frequency, usually on the pretext that they had been built without authorization.

Local and international rights groups, for their part, say the municipality deliberately refrains from granting construction permits to Palestinian residents while allowing Jewish-only settlements to be built in the area.

In a related development, a Palestinian child in East Jerusalem was reportedly injured by Israeli gunfire on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Palestinian Red Crescent said the child was struck in the head by a rubber bullet after clashes broke out between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths near the Qalandiya checkpoint.

The extent of the child’s injuries remains unclear.