QARAWAT BANI HASSAN, West Bank (AP) — The Israeli army has destroyed a farm road built as part of a Palestinian campaign to assist residents of Israeli-controlled areas in the West Bank.
While Palestinians have autonomy in major cities of the West Bank, about 60 percent of the territory remains under Israeli control. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has tried to make inroads in such areas to build the institutions of a future state.
The Palestinians seek all of the West Bank, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, as part of a future independent state.
The road destroyed Wednesday was one such project — a mile (1.5 kilometer) long asphalt strip connecting this village of a few thousand to their farms.
The Israeli army said the road was built illegally in a nature preserve.
