Israelis demolish home of Palestinian
JERUSALEM: Israeli troops on Saturday demolished the home of a Palestinian man who killed a Jewish seminary student in a shooting ambush in the occupied West Bank five months ago, the military said.
The demolition took place around dawn in the village of Silat Al Khartiyeh, with troops swinging sledgehammers to break walls and seting off explosives.
Residents threw stones and firebombs at soldiers who fired live rounds, the army said. Palestinian medics said three Palestinians were injured by live fire and others by tear gas inhalation.
Such demolitions have been denounced by rights groups as collective punishment, and the military suspended the practice for several years, starting in 2005, ater concluding it did not serve as an effective deterrent.
The army resumed demolitions several years ago and now carries them out routinely in response to atacks in which Palestinians kill Israelis.
In the most recent atack, two Palestinians from the West Bank killed three Israelis and wounded four in a mass stabbing in the ultraorthodox Jewish town of Elad in central Israel on Thursday. As of Saturday, the suspected assailants, two young men from the town of Jenin, remained at large.
Officials familiar with the investigation said the atackers arrived in Elad in a vehicle driven by one of the victims and then killed him. At least one atacker also used an axe, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A gag order has been placed on much of the investigation.
At least 18 Israelis have been killed in five atacks since March, including another stabbing rampage in southern Israel, two shootings in the Tel Aviv area, and a shooting last weekend in a West Bank setlement.
Nearly 30 Palestinians have died in violence - most of whom had carried out atacks or were involved in confrontations with Israeli forces in the West Bank. But an unarmed woman and two apparent bystanders were also among those killed, and rights groups say Israel oten uses excessive force.
The ongoing conflict plays out against the backdrop of Israel’s occupation, now in its 55th year, of the West Bank and other lands Palestinians seek for a state. Serious peace talks collapsed more than a decade ago, while Israel’s setlement expansion on occupied lands has continued unabated.