AL-AQABA, West Bank (AFP) — Salim Hamed Jaber, 85, shook his head angrily as he recounted how an Israeli soldier drove up to his impoverished household in the occupied West Bank to deliver a demolition order.
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According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), "more than 3,000 Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank have pending demolition orders, which can be immediately executed without prior warning".
Most of the orders were issued because there were no construction permits, which Israeli authorities only seldom grant to Palestinians, the UN agency said, adding that in some cases entire communities could be displaced.
"This is occupation, this is injustice," said Jaber.
And he cannot understand why anyone would want to demolish his home -- a four-room brick and corrugated iron shack in the dusty, sun-baked village of Al-Aqaba.
Villagers say Israeli troops have told them they need the area for military training, because the landscape resembles southern Lebanon, where Israel fought a 34-day war against the Shiite Hezbollah militant group in 2006.
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