Palestinian official: Israel razed 150 Arab homes in West Bank

Israeli security forces on Sunday knocked down shelters that were home to about 150 Palestinians in the West Bank, Palestinian officials said. A spokesman for the Civil Administration, Israel's authority in the West Bank, said 14 "illegally constructed structures were removed". They had been built on a military training ground, "endangering the lives of those present," spokesman Lee Hiromoto said. Atef Hanini, a local Palestinian official, disputed the Israeli justification and said the Palestinian farming community had lived in the area of Tana, east of Nablus, for decades. A mechanical digger ploughed through what remained of one of the shelters and a Palestinian woman remonstrated with Israeli soldiers at the scene. The structures included homes, stables and a school.