by Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly

RAMALLAH, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- For the first time since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA), a Palestinian in the West Bank has filed a lawsuit in a Palestinian court against Israeli settlers who "vandalized" his home.

Muntaser Mansour, the 30-year-old owner of a 170-square-meter home under construction in the village of Burin, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, told Xinhua that he demands compensation for the damage caused by the Israeli settlers.

"The lawsuit includes a claim for compensation for the material loss and moral damage caused by the settlers' demolition of the house built in Area B," Mansour said, adding that he keeps the documents that prove his ownership of the land.

Under the Oslo peace accords, signed between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993, the West Bank was divided into three areas: Area A under the full control of the PA, Area B under joint Israeli-Palestinian control, and Area C under full Israeli control.

Mansour said that he demands compensation also because he has been deprived of the rights to build the house for eight years which forced his family to live in a rented house.

Mansour, whose house is located in an area between two Israeli settlements, accused the Israeli authorities and settlers of preventing him from rebuilding his house in a bid to link the two settlements.

He expressed the hope that filing a lawsuit in the Palestinian court would result in receiving compensation for his losses and rebuilding his house.

Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has built dozens of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, which have been one of the major disputes between Israel and the PA that has stalled the peace process.

The Palestinian cabinet recently decided to form a national team to prosecute Israeli settlers accused of committing crimes against the Palestinian residents in the Palestinian courts.

Palestinian Minister of Justice Mohammed al-Shalaldeh told Xinhua that the international law and international humanitarian law regulate the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Regardless of terminating the Oslo accords or keeping it valid, there is a civil jurisdiction over any crime which occurs in the Palestinian territory, and there is a right to file lawsuits in the Palestinian courts," al-Shalaldeh said.

In the Oslo accords, there is a provision for civil jurisdiction over the Israelis' damage caused to the Palestinians, he noted.

The minister added that the legal basis of these lawsuits are not the Oslo accords, but the international law.

"We hope that this lawsuit would open the door for Palestinian citizens to turn to the international courts or national criminal courts in other countries, because it is the right of those affected to go to court to obtain compensation," al-Shalaldeh said. Enditem

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