Remains of Illegal Arab Home
Remains of Illegal Arab HomeINN

The Civil Administration on Tuesday destroyed an Arab-owned house that was illegally erected in the heart of Gush Etzion. 

After the building's destruction Council Chairman Saul Goldstein said it was "too little."

"We encourage the civil administration personnel for persevering in the enforcement policy towards illegal Arab construction. In our opinion it is too little, but even this little step serves as a most important deterrent in the struggle against the Arab takeover of our lands. The council will continue supervising the lands in its municipal boundaries and will prompt the civil administration to act on behalf of their preservation," Goldstein said.

According to the reports, the building was erected illegally half a year ago in the vicinity of Alon Shvut near the Patriarchs' Way, and served as a residence for a local Arab family who had previously lived near Bethlehem.

Supervisors from the civil administration arrived reinforced by army and police forces and bulldozed the building. At the same time the supervisors also destroyed a pool Arabs had illegally built near the South Efrat Junction, and a concrete slab for washing cars that had been illegally built near Herodion.

Dov Barak, the Gush Etzion Regional Council's lands supervisor, reported that in response to the destruction of the home the local arabs staged riots and threw rocks on the road between Rosh Tsurim and Alon Shvut. Police and army forces quickly dispersed the rioters.

The Regavim Movement said in response to the destruction of the illegal building in Gush Etzion " the Regavim Movement is pleased that the Civil Administration has acceded to our repeated requests to destroy the illegal building conducted in contravention of the law and as a flagrant provocation against the law enforcement system."

"Nevertheless," the group added, "the movement regrets the haplessness of the administration in everything connected with enforcing the law on the Palestinian sector, the movement calls upon the administration to wake up and impose the rule of law in the region."

"The Regavim Movement will continue working against illegal construction and hopes that today's incident heralds a new era in which the law enforcement system will employ the bulk of its power against law violators," the statement concluded.