Israeli settlers chop off olive trees, harass herders in Salfit
OCCUPIED AL_QUDS, (ST)- The Israeli settlers on Sunday uprooted or chopped off nearly 15 olive saplings and harassed Palestinian sheep herders in the occupied West Bank province of Salfit.
Witnesses told WAFA News Agency that settlers uprooted and chopped off nearly 15 olive saplings in the village of Yasuf after they sneaked into a ranch owned by Ziad Abdelrazeq, a local Palestinian citizen.
Meantime, Israeli settlers accompanied by an Occupation army force harassed and assaulted Palestinian sheep herders near the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan in the province. No injuries were reported.
Although violence and vandalism by Israeli settlers are commonplace throughout the year, attacks and acts of vandalism by Israeli settlers intensified during the past three months across the occupied West Bank, especially in the north of the territory.
Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli occupation authorities.
There are over 650,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in violation of international law and consensus.
Israeli occupation authorities bulldoze Palestinian land in Naqab region
On the other hand in Naqab, the Israeli occupation forces on Sunday bulldozed large tracts of Palestinian land in the villages of Umm Batin and Tal as-Sabi in the Naqab region in the south of occupied Palestine, according to Wafa News Agency.
Witnesses said that Israeli Police accompanied by bulldozers embarked on bulldozing Palestinian lands in the area since the early morning hours, while denying access of owners and their supporters.
Last month, protests broke out in the area and neighboring villages against continuing Israeli forestation work on land Palestinian citizens say they privately own near the southern city of Beer al-Sabe.
The escalation in mid-January began when bulldozers from the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a quasi-governmental agency, arrived with heavy police protection in the village of al-Atrash and razed Bedouin farming lands, in order to plant trees.
Bedouin Palestinians protested against the move then for days. Videos and images shared on social media showed Israeli forces violently arresting and beating residents who arrived to defend the lands they use for farming wheat and barley.
Some 300,000 Palestinian Bedouins, who hold Israeli citizenship, live in the Naqab region, which makes up about half of the entire landmass of historic Palestine.
Raghda Sawas