KARUNA SHINSHO, ASIA TONIGHT: In another development, the Israeli housing ministry says it's approving permits to build more than 700 new housing units in the West Bank. The move is aimed at expanding two Jewish settlements. But as Ben Wedeman reports, it comes as Israel tears down several Palestinian homes.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Home-wreckers, Hebron style. Outside this West Bank town, Israel brings in the heavy machinery to destroy Palestinian homes built without permits. The Israeli government says it demolished 15 such homes and other structures Wednesday, most still under construction. But the Jaabari (ph) family was just about to move in. The sudden loss of their new home a shock for the old, beyond comprehension for the young. "They don't give us building permits," says a neighbor, "because they want this land for themselves." Israeli officials declined CNN's request for an interview but issued the following statement. "The structures were built illegally and therefore were demolished." Israel civil administration says it's just enforcing the law, zoning and building codes that have been in place since before the occupation. And while thousands of Palestinian houses have been destroyed, Israel has constructed more than 70,000 homes for Jewish settlers in the lands conquered in the 1967 war. Anti-house demolition activist Rabbi Arik Esherman was arrested while trying to stop the destruction of Palestinian homes outside Jerusalem.</s>ARIK ESHERMAN, RABBIS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: My God, we have such real security problems right now, and they're allocating human resources to go out and demolish homes, which - not to mention the fact that that, of course, is only going to put more fuel on the fire and get people more riled up and create probably more security problems.</s>WEDEMAN: And after the dust clears, 3-year-old Riziq (ph) Jaabari plays in the rubble of what, just a few hours before, were two new rooms for his family's home. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Hebron, on the West Bank.
Israel Destroys Palestinian Homes Built Without Permit