Ramallah, July 8 (RHC)-- Israeli forces have demolished the family home of a Palestinian American man accused of being involved in a shooting that killed an Israeli and wounded two others in the occupied West Bank last May.

Ramallah, July 8 (RHC)-- Israeli forces have demolished the family home of a Palestinian American man accused of being involved in a shooting that killed an Israeli and wounded two others in the occupied West Bank last May.

Montaser Shalabi was indicted in an Israeli military court over the attack near the city of Nablus in which student Yehuda Guetta was shot dead.   After an appeal in an Israeli court by Shalabi’s family against the demolition was unsuccessful, the military said, the two-storey villa in Turmus’ayya, a village in which many Palestinian Americans live, was levelled in a controlled explosion on Thursday.

Israel says such demolitions deter potential Palestinian assailants. Palestinians and rights groups condemn the policy as collective punishment.

Shalabi’s wife, Sanaa, who lived with three of their children in the home in Turmus’ayya, said she spoke with her husband by telephone on Thursday.  She described him as a “resister” and resolved to rebuild the house.  “They want to demoralise us, but we are steadfast.  This is the situation of the entire Palestinian people,” she said.