Bethlehem/PNN/

 Israeli occupation forces demolished a Palestinian-owned home this morning in the village of Al-Walaja, located west of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

Khader Al-Araj, the head of the Al-Walaja Village Council, reported that a large contingent of Israeli soldiers, accompanied by a military bulldozer, broke into the Ain Juwaiza neighborhood of the village. They proceeded to demolish the home of Ghassan Al-Atrash, a local resident, which measured approximately 120 square meters.

Al-Araj pointed out that the Israeli occupation authorities frequently employ such measures to harass residents and pressure them to leave the village, citing flimsy pretexts for the demolitions.

Israeli refuses to permit virtually any Palestinian construction in 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.