demons continue onslaught against Al-Naqab homes

NEGEV, (PIC)-- Israeli bulldozers backed by police and special forces stormed Tuesday morning two south Negev towns unrecognized by the Israeli government, razing two houses.

Police surrounded and destroyed a home owned by the Arbidi family claiming that it was built without a permit, eyewitnesses said.

Police removed members of the household by force to allow bulldozers to take down their houses before their eyes, witnesses added.

The witnesses went on to say that police arrested a man in wake of his opposition to the demolitions. After destroying the house, the forces left 14 children without shelter at the scene.

The bulldozers also destroyed a house belonging to a 70-year-old woman of the Abu Hadawiya family. The demolition process took time against the 150 sq. meters brick and concrete house in light of heavy security.

In a separate incident, the Israeli Jerusalem municipality issued an order to demolish the home of Palestinian man Ismael Ali Salah in the Beit Safafa neighborhood in southwest Jerusalem.

The 70-sq. meter house was home to 20 people including a 100-year-old man and 92-year-old woman. The family was forced to live in the house, which was previously used to feed poultry and hold livestock, after one of their houses was seized in June by Israeli extremist groups.

Clashes erupted between the Salah family and extremists backed by electric company workers who showed up to extend a new power line to the confiscated home. One Israeli settler was injured during the confrontation.

Local sources said Israeli police later arrested Bakr Ismael Salah and Mahmoud Ali Ibrahim of Jerusalem on charges of assaulting the Israeli settler.

Meanwhile, violent clashes broke out in the vicinity of the south Nablus village of Burin on Tuesday between locals and dozens of Israelis from the Bracha settlement, who headed out with their women and children to steal olives during their season in the village, which is nearby the settlement.

The settlers set out early morning to harvest and steal the olives, when property owners confronted them in defense of their livelihood, eyewitnesses reported.

Israeli settlers assaulted a Jazeera reporter with a stone to the face amid the confrontation.

An Israeli military force stepped in to defend the settlers who then returned to Bracha settlement.