Hebron, Palestine -- The house of Yousef Mohamed Bader El Atrash of Kilkiss
was demolished by the Israeli military this morning at 8:00 am. The house
of 1800 sq. ft. on the southern edge of hebron was completed in 1992 at a
cost of $20,000. No reason was given for the demolition; the family has
lived on this land since before the British Mandate. They claim to have
documents confirming their ownership of the property, and to have been given
permission to build in 1988.

Yousef's wife, Husan, heard voices outside her house at 8:00 am. About 30
Israeli soldiers came with a bulldozer. Holding her pre-school son at
gunpoint, they ordered her out of the house. In pulling her from the house
the soldiers ripped her dress sleeve, exposing her shoulder. Her foot was
injured when they pushed her into a ditch sixty feet from the house and
threw blankets over her. While some soldiers piled household items on the
ground, other soldiers brought some of her summer nightgowns to her and told
her to put them on. After demolishing the house, the soldiers also
destroyed the water cistern.

Alerted by a journalist, CPTers Pierre Shantz and rich Meyer arrived at the
site at 1pm. a pile of rubble surrounded by bulldozer tracks was all that
remained of the house. After hearing an account of the events of the
morning a taking photographs of the scene, they accompanied Husan to the
District Coordinating Office where she registered a complaint about the assault.