Irish student moves into West Bank

An Irish student has moved into a Palestinian home in the West Bank in an effort to prevent the Israeli army from demolishing the building, which houses three families.

Israel has marked the house for destruction because a member of one of the families was involved in a Hamas suicide bombing several weeks ago.

The demolition is part of a controversial Israeli policy designed to punish relatives for the actions of Palestinian militants.

Colm Breathnach, a student from Trinity College in Dublin and a member of the International Solidarity Movement, said his presence in the house in the Al-Farrah refugee camp near Nablus could act as a deterrent to the Israeli army.

"It gives some hope to the local Palestinian people who are, by and large, on the edge of despair in relation to the situation here," he said.