The Institute for Middle East Understanding

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UN: 130 West Bank Palestinians displaced by Israel in two days
Ma'an News, Oct 30, 2008

This article was originally published by Ma'an News and is republished with permission.

west-bank-demolition.jpg
An Israeli bulldozer carries out the demolition of a Palestinian home in the West Bank. (Ahmed Mehzer, Maan Images)

Israeli military bulldozers destroyed houses in two West Bank communities on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving approximately 130 Palestinians homeless, United Nations (UN) sources told Ma'an.

In the village of Umm Al-Kher, south of Hebron, Israeli bulldozers, accompanied by some 60 soldiers, destroyed Palestinian homes near the Karmel settlement. Workers employed by the Israeli military removed the furniture from the structures before the demolitions.

As a result, 95 people were left homeless, including a woman who had recently given birth.

The UN sources added that the Red Cross and UNRWA (the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees) have provided the Palestinians in Umm Al-Kher with tents and other forms of assistance.

On Thursday, UN sources told Ma'an that Israeli bulldozers had demolished the homes of 95 people in a Bedouin community near the Ma'ale Mikhmas settlement, near the West Bank city of Jericho.

The residents of the community are members of the Jahalin Bedouin clan, which was expelled into the West Bank during the creation of Israel in 1948, and has been forcibly moved several times since.

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This page was printed out from the website of the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) found at www.imeu.net. The IMEU provides journalists with quick access to information about Palestine and the Palestinians, as well as expert sources, both in the U.S. and the Middle East.