Israeli settlers beat Palestinian herders and destroy their crops

OCCUPIED AL-QUDS, Jun.1, (ST)-The Israeli occupation forces seized on Wednesday agricultural tractors and other vehicles in several areas in the northern Jordan Valley, according to local sources.

Mu’taz Bsharat, an activist, said that the Israeli occupation forces raided areas in the northern Jordan Valley and seized more than 6 tractors and other Palestinian-owned vehicles.

Moreover, Israeli settlers today beat Palestinian herders and destroyed their crops in al-Juwaya community in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, according to a local activist.

Rateb al-Jubur said that settlers, under military protection, assaulted Palestinian herders in al-Juwaya, one of the communities making up Masafer Yatta, and prevented them from reaching their pastures at gun point.

The settlers also grazed their cattle on wheat and barely crops cultivated by Palestinian farmers in the area.

Recently, Israel’s top court gave the army a green light to forcibly expel some 1,300 Palestinians living in twelve villages or hamlets making up the Masafer Yatta area, which relies heavily on animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood, marking one of the largest expulsions carried out by the State of Israel in recent decades.

In another development, the Israeli occupation detained 10 Palestinians, including 5 minors, from various parts of the West Bank, according to local and security sources.

They said that Israeli occupation attacked 4 minors, all aged 13, from Ras Karkar village, northwest of Ramallah.

The occupation detained 2 others after breaking into and ransacking their houses in al-Midya village, west of Ramallah.

Still in Ramallah district, gun-toting soldiers barged their way into Beit Sira village and detained a Palestinian.

They also raided a house in Beit Liqya village, southwest of the city, and turned it upside down.

According to a 2017 report by Addameer, over the past 50 years, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel, this figure is now believed to be closer to 1 million. This means that about 40% of Palestinian men and boys living under military occupation have been deprived of their freedom. Almost every Palestinian family has suffered the imprisonment of a loved one.

Compiled by: Basma Qaddour