Palestinians pray on the rubble of a mosque which was demolished by the Israeli army Thursday in the West Bank village of Khirbet Yarza near Tubas town. (AP)KHIRBET YARZA: Israeli troops razed a mosque and more than 10 other structures in two areas of the occupied West Bank Thursday, Palestinian sources said. Most of the demolition activity took place in the village of Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley, where residents said troops had razed a very old mosque and its much-larger extension built last year. The army confirmed knocking down what it described as “eight temporary structures” which had been built inside a military firing zone. “During the morning, the security forces and the Civil Administration destroyed eight temporary structures and the frame of another structure which were built without the required permits inside a firing zone, endangering the lives of the residents,” said a statement from COGAT, the Defense Ministry unit which acts as a link between the army and the Palestinians. At the opposite end of the West Bank, Israeli troops destroyed a building which was home to 18 people in the southern town of Yatta, the family and municipal officials said. Khirbet Yarza is located in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli control and where all construction and planning issues come under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Civil Administration. Figures from the Israeli NGO Bimkom show that around 95 percent of applications for building permits are rejected, with the Civil Administration only granting around 12 permits a year. UN figures show that in 2009, Israel destroyed 180 Palestinian structures in Area C, including 56 residential buildings. Turkish warning Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country will not remain silent if Israel attacks Lebanon or Gaza. “Does (Israel) think it can enter Lebanon with the most modern aircraft and tanks to kill women and children, and destroy schools and hospitals, and then expect us to remain silent?” Erdogan said Thursday at a conference organized by the Union of Arab Banks in Beirut.”Does it think it can use the most modern weapons, phosphorus munitions and cluster bombs to kill children in Gaza and then expect us to remain silent? “We will not be silent and we will support justice by all means available to us.” Turkey was once Israel's closest military and diplomatic ally in the Middle East but ties began to deteriorate when Ankara criticized Israel's December 2008 to January 2009 offensive against Gaza. Relations then nosedived on May 31, 2010 when Israeli naval commandos stormed a Turkish-registered protest ship, the Mavi Mara, part of a flotilla attempting to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory. Nine Turkish activists were killed in the operation. Erdogan has said his country will not begin to restore relations with Israel until it apologizes for its “savage attack” on the vessel.
