Description

HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Settlers destroyed dozens of olive trees in the Hebron town of Yatta on Sunday, a local official said.

Ratib al-Jubrour, the coordinator of a local committee against settlements and the wall, said settlers from Maon damaged trees belonging to the al-Jabarin family.

The attack is part of "ongoing criminal acts settlers practice against Palestinian citizens," he added.

Israeli forces reportedly arrived at the scene and asked the family to file an official complaint.

The land owners told Ma'an that there would be no point, as a complaint would be "mere ink on paper."

Meanwhile, Palestinians from nearby village Susiya on Sunday morning found seven piles of harvested grain had been torched in a field near an Israeli settlement, an Italian peace group said.

Operation Dove said the crops, on land belonging to Jamil Awad and harvested on Saturday evening, are a main source of income for the community.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is systematic in the West Bank.

Over 90 percent of villages which have experienced multiple attacks by settlers are under Israeli security control, The Palestine Center says, meaning local Palestinians only have the official protection of an army which they claim ignores settler violence.

Features