Israeli settlers today uprooted hundreds of olive trees in Yatta and Tarqumiya towns, south and northwest of Hebron city, according to local sources.
Coordinator of the Protection and Steadfastness Committees in Masafer Yatta, Fouad al-Amour, told WAFA that settlers destroyed a one-donum-and-a-half grove planted with over 60 olive trees belonging to Ahmad Hamada.
He added that the assailants came from the colonial settlement outpost of Avigayil in the occupied South Hebron Hills, while pointing that the move was intended to displace Palestinian farmers and make room for colonial settlement expansion.
Meanwhile, settlers also uprooted 300 olive saplings belonging to Atta Ja‘afra and his brother, Aziz, in al-Taybeh area of the town, according to the coordinator of the Protection and Resilience Committees, Muhammad Abu Dabbous.
He added that it was the third time for settlers to destroy Palestinian groves in the area, including by spraying them with incendiary materials, while pointing that the move was intended to connect the colonial settlement of Adora with that of Telem.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
Settlers violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.
Over 700,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.
The number of settlers has almost tripled since the Oslo Accords of 1993, when settlers’ number estimated 252,000. Illegal colonial settlements have leapt from 144 to 515 in that time.
Israel’s nation-state law that passed last July stated that building and strengthening settlements as a “national interest.”
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency