Israel demolishes homes of Palestinians

AL-QUDS — The Israeli military on Tuesday demolished homes of two Palestinians in east Jerusalem, the army’s first concrete steps following a late night Cabinet meeting in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a “strong hand” to quell recent deadly attacks. The demolitions come amid weeks of heightened Palestinian unrest in east Jerusalem and the West Bank and a bloody holiday weekend in which Israeli forces killed four Palestinians during violent protests. The violence threatens a new Israeli-Palestinian escalation at a time when a political solution to the conflict is increasingly distant and Palestinian frustrations are mounting after years of diplomatic paralysis. Also Tuesday, troops sealed off a room at the home of a third Palestinian, ahead of its potential demolition. Israeli forces, meanwhile, killed two suspected Palestinian assailants over the weekend and on Monday shot dead two teenage stone-throwers in West Bank clashes, one of them a 13-year-old boy. Undercover Israeli troops later raided a Nablus hospital and nabbed a wounded Palestinian suspected of killing the Israeli couple. Israeli intelligence said the Palestinian gunman had been accidentally shot by his friend as they killed the Israelis in Thursday’s drive-by shooting, prompting them to flee the scene and likely saving the lives of the four children in the back seat. Netanyahu said Israel has also deployed thousands more troops in the crackdown. “We are acting with a strong hand against terrorism and against inciters. We are operating on all fronts,” he said late Monday. “We are in a difficult struggle but one thing should be clear — we will win. Just as we defeated previous waves of terrorism, we will defeat this one as well.” Many Palestinians believe that Israel is trying to expand a Jewish presence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. There have been several days of clashes at the site over the past few weeks as Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque while hurling stones. — AP