REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, RAMALLAH -- Palestinian officials accused Israel Monday of escalating its policy of collective punishments against the Palestinians to end the ongoing wave of tension that broke out in the Palestinian territories since October.

The officials' accusation was made after the Israeli authorities expelled early on Monday two Palestinian families from east Jerusalem after sealing off their homes with cements and destroying the walls of the rooms.

Eyewitnesses in east Jerusalem told Xinhua that Israeli police officers forcibly evacuated the families of two Palestinians who were killed in attacks they carried out against Israel two months ago. The two houses are at Jabal al-Mukaber neighborhood in the southeast part of Jerusalem.

The eyewitnesses said that the police forces besieged the two homes in the neighborhood and then broke into the two homes, destroyed the internal walls and then sealed off with cements the doors and windows.

One of the two Palestinians was shot dead by Israeli police gunfire when he drove a car and ran it over an Israeli and killed him on Oct. 15. The other Palestinian was killed after he opened fire into an Israeli bus in Jerusalem and killed three Israelis.

The Israeli side is still holding the bodies of the two and refuses to hand them over to their families. Palestinian officials said that sealing off the two homes and holding the bodies of their children is a clear collective punishment.

"Israel punishes the family that only one of its members is involved in the attack and this is a clear violation of all international laws," said Ahmed al-Ruweidi, who is in charge of Jerusalem affairs in the Palestinian presidency. He said Israel "is racist and unveils its terrorist face."

He argued that why Israel doesn't demolish or seal off the homes of the Jewish settlers who were involved in killing innocent Palestinians, mainly referring to Dawabsha family in which three members of the family were murdered by Jewish arsonists several months ago.

Right after the outbreak of the wave of tension in early October, the Israeli government approved the policy of destroying the homes of Palestinians, who carry out attacks against Israel.

The Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights (JCSER) documented and monitored the demolition of eight Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem and more than 15 homes in the West Bank because members of the families were involved in attacking Israelis.

"All the demolition of these homes were carried out as a kind of punishment to the families," Ziad Hamouri, the director of the center told Xinhua, adding that the Israeli authorities handed over warrants to demolish the homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

He went on saying that "it is classified as a collective punishment against the entire families that only one of its children is involved in carrying out an attack against Israel," adding "this also contradicts with the Israeli legal laws."

During the wave of tension between the two sides, 144 Palestinians, including 27 children and seven women were killed, according to the figures from Palestinian Health Ministry, while Israel said that 27 Israelis were killed and around 400 injured.

Islamic Hamas movement and other Palestinian factions call the wave of tension as an Intifada or Uprising, while the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) calls it a popular blow and holds Israel responsible for it.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said on Monday in a press statement that the Israeli measures and the collective punishment against the Palestinians "is a coward action based on Israel's vision of terrorism based on murder and killing."

Wassel Abu Yousef, official in Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told Xinhua that Israel is leading an open war against the Palestinian people by imposing a series of collective punishments on them.

"These measures include destroying and raiding homes, the daily campaigns of arrests, closures of towns and villages, holding the bodies of Palestinians," he said, adding "these measures are violating the international laws."

He went on saying that the Israeli measures "show that Israel doesn't want any peaceful solution and works hard on breaking the Palestinian people determination and end their popular protests."

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