PALESTINIANS -STUDENTS- PAINTINGS-FUL : MASTER TEARS PRECIS

 

FEARS OF ANNEXATION : Palestinians in the West Bank worry about expulsion as Israel tightens control.

'' They're taking away my future ,'' Muath Amarne, a 23-year-old university student, said on Wednesday, the day he learned that his home in Tulkarm would be destroyed.

This month, the Israeli military said it would be demolishing homes in Tulkarm, a city near Jenin, to make crowded neighborhoods and streets more accessible to Israeli forces and to prevent the re-emergence of militants.

The contours of the new offensive were unfolding during a recent visit by New York Times reporters to the city of Jenin, among the once densely populated neighborhoods that have been cleared out since an operation began in January.

In one of those areas, more than 10,000 people lived until recently. Now, it is empty - the roads blocked by mounds of dirt and flanked by piles of rubble.

Neighborhood after neighborhood deserted.

The World Students Society thanks Adam Rasgon and Fatima Abdulkarim.