Israeli forces demolish illegal building in West Bank settlement

 Israeli security forces demolished Wednesday an illegally-built carpentry workshop in a Jewish outpost in the West Bank, as dozens of settlers were rallying the site to protest the demolition.

Army soldiers and paramilitary Border Police officers began the eviction early on Wednesday morning in the outpost of Netiv Ha'avot, south of Jerusalem. By noon, a military statement said the demolition was completed successfully.

The military said the move follows government directives after the Supreme Court found the building was illegally-constructed on private Palestinian land. The court ordered to demolish it.

Teenager activists arrived a day earlier to the carpentry and barricaded themselves inside. In the morning, they linked arms and chanted as the security forces dragged them out of the site.

Israel's Supreme Court has ruled that overall 17 buildings in Netiv Ha'avot were illegally built. The carpentry was the second building that was demolished. The demolition of the other 15 buildings is scheduled to March 2018 and is likely to trigger a violent protest by the ultra-nationalist settlers.

Israel rarely demolishes a building of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, a territory that Israel seized together with the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war. The settlements are illegal under international law and most of the international community considers them an obstacle to peace.

Some 600,000 Israelis currently live the settlements and the outposts, which are settlements that were built without permits from the Israeli authorities.

source: Xinhua