Description

A Palestinian woman with olive trees damaged by vandals in al-Tiwani
on May 10. (AFP/Hazem Bader)

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers on Friday uprooted dozens of olive trees in a village in the southern West Bank.

Residents of Maon settlement uprooted around 70 trees in al-Tawani village, east of Yatta, said Rateb al-Jbour, the Hebron popular committee coordinator.

The trees belonged to Khader al-Amour and Kayed al-Amour, al-Jbour told Ma'an. He said settlers were trying to confiscate more Palestinian land in the area to expand the illegal settlement.

Al-Tawani mayor Mohammad Rabei condemned the incident and settlers' continuous attacks on villagers. He said settlers were trying to force Palestinians to leave the village.

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said "police received a report about the damaging of some 62 Palestinian-owned olive trees" in the area.

She also noted that "slogans such as 'price tag' and 'mutual guarantee' were scrawled nearby."

"Price tag" is a euphemism for hate crimes, primarily committed against Palestinians by Israeli extremists.

The attacks began in response to Israeli government moves to dismantle unauthorized settler outposts or in retaliation to Palestinians after attacks against settlers, but over the past 18 months have also targeted Christian institutions and even the Israeli military.

The perpetrators of such crimes are rarely caught.