The IDF Civil Administration tore down structures near Givat Ze’ev, northwest of Jerusalem, on Tuesday. The structures were built by Arabs and served for commercial purposes.

The demolition was carried out at the insistence of Regavim, a grassroots NGO that receives support from the Independent Israel Fund and struggles to preserve Israel’s land and national properties.

Regavim recently sent a letter to the Head of the Civil Administration, Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz, in which it noted that “In recent years, abetted by the planning chaos and lack of enforcement that typify the area, an entire illegal commercial zone has begun to flourish alongside the internal access road from Givat Ze’ev to New Givon in the Binyamin region.
“This is a large scale phenomenon entailing the construction of illegal structures for commerce and services, located beside the road and adjacent to it, in a way that endangers the people who use the roads, both security-wise and safety-wise.”

Regavim counted 18 illegal Arab structures that had cropped up along the road.
The NGO told Arutz Sheva Tuesday that while it is pleased that the state took action against the structures, “we do not understand why we have to fight and send countless letters and warnings just so that the state will destroy what was not supposed to be built from the outset.”