Israeli forces conducted an unprecedented escalation in the West Bank over the weekend by detonating 20 apartment buildings in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. According to some reports, the move constituted the largest single demolition operation conducted in the West Bank since 1967.
According to local journalists, the Israeli army warned Israelis in the nearby settlements that they would hear large explosions as troops wired an entire residential block in Jenin’s Damaj neighborhood with explosives. Local residents and media sources compared the effect of the destruction to the “fire belt” strategy that Israel has employed in Gaza — involving the concentrated and repetitive bombing of small areas that destroy entire residential blocks. ….more
