Mahmoud Kaabeneh has two talismans that he hopes will help protect his home from Israel's bulldozers.

Hanging inside the one-room house the 37-year-old Bedouin Palestinian shares with his wife and four children is a framed verse by a Tunisian poet. “I will live here despite disease and enemies, like a hawk on top of the mountain,” it reads in Arabic.

On the wall of the shed-like dwelling is the blue and gold flag of the European Union, which built this structure and hundreds of others for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. “I will keep any flag on my house if it will protect my home,” said Mr Kaabneh.

Simple homes like this are at the heart of a bitter argument raging between Israel and the EU. So far this year, Israel has bulldozed more than 65 of these houses in the West Bank, arguing that they were constructed illegally and the EU has no right to build in the area without permission. Some Israelis even accuse Europe of building its own version of "settlements" .