Israel Destroys Entire Commercial Market in One Day ... [View All]

(shortened a much longer headline)

Israel Destroys Entire Commercial Market in One Day in Largest Demolition in Years

Over 100 Shops and 5 Homes Demolished in Nazlat ‘Isa for the Building of the Wall

August 21, 2003. Nazlat ‘Isa, Occupied West Bank. PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. Marking the single largest demolition of buildings in years, the entire commercial area of Nazlat ‘Isa was today raised to the ground as some 15 bulldozers, accompanied by large numbers of military and border police, entered the community at 5:00 AM and destroyed over 100 shops and 5 homes. The market, which was previously targeted in January of this year with the destruction of 82 or close to of its shops, has been the commercial center for the entire region.

The bulldozers began the demolitions early in the morning and continued unabated until the late hours of the night.

The commercial area, just east of the Green Line in the Occupied West Bank, has been leveled for the building of an “isolation barrier”—an extension or offshoot of the Wall--that will entrap the community and the surrounding areas between it and the Wall to ensure complete isolation. Commercial areas along the Green Line have been consistently targeted with the building of the Wall in what assures that communities trapped between the Wall and the Green Line (the Wall in this case is located 2 km inside the West Bank) will have no infrastructure for survival.

Today, Nazlat ‘Isa saw countless tragic images of people clearing their shops and hurriedly removing goods and produce to safeguard their investments and livelihoods.