Israeli settlers uprooted and destroyed scores of olive saplings for Palestinian farmers

Israeli settlers today uprooted and destroyed scores of olive saplings for Palestinian farmers in the village of Qusra, near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

 

Mayor of Qusra, Emad Hasan, told WAFA that a group of settlers who came from the illegal settlement outpost of Esh Kodesh sneaked their way into a ranch near the village, where they uprooted about 100 olive saplings belonging to two local Palestinian villagers. The two landowners were identified as Jawad Hasan and Abdulazim Abulafi.

 

He said this was the second attack on Palestinian property by Israeli settlers in less than two days. A video released by rights group showed Israeli settlers pelting a Palestinian man with stones in the nearby village of Jalud.

 

The attack happened Saturday afternoon near the village of Jalud in the northern West Bank on a plot of land near the Palestinian man’s house, according to Yesh Din, a left-wing rights group that documents settler violence in the West Bank.

 

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities, as the Palestinian Authority has no jurisdiction over Israeli settlers under signed agreements.

 

Over 700,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.

 

In another development, Israeli occupation authorities demolished an Arab-owned house in the city of Lob in the 1948-occupied land, under the pretext that it was built without a permit, according to Arab 48 website.

 

The house belongs to the Arab family of an-Naqib in the city, one of the indigenous Arab families that remained in the city following the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948.

 

Israeli authorities continue to demolish Arab establishments and homes in the 1948-occupied land despite a recent announcement on freezing the amendment of “Article 116 A” of the Israeli Planning and Construction Law.

 

Last night, Israeli occupation forces opened gunfire at a Palestinian young man in the village of Qatanna, about 12 km northwest of occupied Jerusalem, and arrested him while bleeding, according to local sources.

 

Source: WAFA