Israel destroys apartments of accused ‘killer’
Clashes break out between Israeli forces and Palestinian residents
Israeli forces destroyed two apartments in the occupied West Bank on Friday that housed the family of a Palestinian accused of killing an Israeli woman in February, the army said.
Soldiers surrounded the apartment block in the flashpoint southern city of Hebron beginning late on Thursday.
They then destroyed the two apartments that were home to the family of Arafat Irfaiya, 29, with the use of heavy construction equipment in the early hours of the morning.
Some clashes broke out between Palestinian residents and Israeli forces during the operation, AFP journalists reported.
The murder of Ori Ansbacher, 19, reportedly stabbed multiple times, triggered shock and anger in Israel. Her body was found on Feb. 7 in a forest southeast of Jerusalem and Irfaiya was arrested two days later in a raid in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Israeli authorities labelled it a “nationalist” attack, meaning linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Demolition spree
Israel routinely demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of attacks on Israelis as part of a policy it says discourages future violence.
Human rights groups and Palestinians say the practice amounts to collective punishment, with family members forced to pay for the acts of a relative.
On Wednesday, Israeli forces destroyed the home of a Palestinian who was killed during his attempted arrest on suspicion of carrying out a December shooting. Seven people were wounded in the Dec. 9 attack near the Israeli settlement of Ofra in the occupied West Bank.
The suspected gunman, Salah Barghouti, was killed as security forces attempted to arrest him in a Dec. 12 raid.
Border police and Defense Ministry officials “demolished the apartment in which Salah Barghouti lived” in the village of Kobar, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, the army said.
Trials and tribulations
Border police already razed the home of Barghouti’s brother, Assam, in the same village on March 7. Assam Barghouti faces trial in the Dec. 13 killing of two soldiers in a separate shooting nearby.
He is also accused of helping his brother carry out the Ofra attack.
The armed wing of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, claimed Salah Barghouti as one of its “fighters.”
Israel routinely demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks against its citizens.
It says the measure acts as a deterrent to future attacks but human rights groups condemn the practice as collective punishment since family members suffer from the actions of relatives.