The army gave thousands of displaced residents just a few hours to retrieve belongings from their homes before demolishing buildings and clearing wide avenues through the rubble.
The “right of return” to those lands, claimed by Palestinian refugees ever since the creation of Israel in 1948, remains one of the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We came back to the camp and found our house demolished. No one informed us, no one told us anything,“ said Abd al-Rahman Ajaj, 62, who had been hoping to collect his belongings on Wednesday.
Thousands displaced
Vacating the camp after a warning of a raid, “we would usually come back two or three days later”, Ajaj told AFP.
“The last time, we left and never returned,“ he said.
Three wide arteries of concrete now streak the side of Tulkarem camp, allowing easy access for the army.
‘Eliminate the refugee issue’
Beyond the military value of wide access roads, many residents believe Israel is seeking to destroy the idea of the camps themselves, turning them into regular neighbourhoods of the cities they flank.
The current Israeli government -- and particularly some of its far-right ministers, who demand the outright annexation of the West Bank -- are firmly opposed to this demand, which they see as a demographic threat to Israel’s survival as a Jewish state.
Zuheiri’s brother’s house was destroyed last week by the bulldozers.
Each demolished building housed at least six families on three floors, he added.
Explosions rock camp
He feared becoming homeless if his home was demolished.
“They want to erase the camp -- to remove as many buildings as possible and leave just streets.”
The Israeli supreme court froze the military order for mass demolitions in Tulkarem camp on Thursday, giving the state two months to answer a petition against them, said the Palestinian human rights group Adalah, which filed it.
As residents retrieved mattresses, wardrobes and air conditioning units from the camp on Wednesday under the surveillance of Israeli troops, gunshots rang out through the streets.
A loud explosion echoed across the city, followed by a column of dust rising as another building was apparently blown up, sending the smell of gunpowder wafting in the wind.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Israel army bulldozers plough through homes at West Bank camps )
Also on site :