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Around 50 families in Nablus in the north of the occupied West Bank have been given notices by Israeli forces that their homes will be demolished, under the pretext that their houses have been built on "archaeological land".

The demolition orders were issued last week and gave homeowners 14 days to object, after which their homes could face immediate demolition.

While usually Israel issues demolition orders for homes built in areas classified as Area C according to the 1993 Oslo Accords, this time a new justification has been given - that the houses, in the village of Kafr Qalil village and the Al-Dahiya Al-Ulya neighbourhood within Nablus have been built on land containing archaeological artefacts.

Both communities are situated on the slopes of Mount Gerizim, which forms the southern side of the valley in which Nablus is situated.

The illegal Israeli settlement Har Bracha is also situated on the mountain.

Earlier this year, the Israeli Knesset advanced a bill which would grant the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) powers to operate in the illegally occupied West Bank, which effectively places all archaeological sites in Palestinian territory under the control of Israel's Civil Administration.

However, though Israel has cited "archaeological" importance as justifying the orders, and IAA personnel reportedly accompanied the Israeli soldiers who distributed the demolition notices, the residents of the homes earmarked for destruction deny this is the case.

"Where are these artefacts?" asked Walaa Kusa, the owner of one of the homes due to be demolished.  

"We built here decades ago. We found nothing when we dug the foundations. There are no Roman terraces or Pharaonic palaces like they claim. These are just pretexts to remove us from our land to benefit the nearby settlements".

She explains that the goal is to expel the Palestinians "step by step" from Mount Gerizim, which overlooks the Har Bracha settlement.

Nablus governor Ghassan Daghlas says four other demolitions have already been carried out by Israel within the city.

He said Israel was applying the policy it had long used in occupied Jerusalem, which was to impose hefty fines on homeowners to cover the costs of demolition if they didn't destroy their own homes.

Regarding Israel's claim that the houses "violate archaeological sites," Daghlas slammed this as an "an excuse that no longer fools anyone, but is simply being used to justify uprooting Palestinians from their roots, time and again."

He added that it is Israel that "violates archaeological sites on a daily basis, like in Sebastia and other places, destroying and bombing them, as it did with the Omari Mosque in Gaza. Therefore, these lies don't convince any of us".

Daghlas said meetings are being held to discuss possible legal avenues to counter the demolition orders and develop an action plan in collaboration with the relevant authorities, to provide legal support and assistance to the threatened homeowners.

This is an  from our Arabic edition.