BETHLEHEM, Israeli occupation forces today uprooted scores of olive trees and demolished two agricultural structures in Tuqu town, east of Bethlehem, according to a municipal source.

The town mayor, Mousa al-Shaer, said that Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer into the eastern wilderness, known in Arabic as al-Bariyah al-Sharqiya, on the edge of the southern West Bank town, where the heavy machinery uprooted 50 olive trees and knocked down two agricultural shacks belonging to two local residents purportedly for being located in Area C, which makes up more than 60 percent of the area of the West Bank and is under total Israeli army control.

Also in Tuqu, the mayor said the Israeli army today demolished a 150-square-meter house that was still in the construction stage under the pretext it was built without a permit.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency