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NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers cut down more than 50 olive trees in Huwwara village south of Nablus in the northern West Bank on Thursday, a Palestinian official said.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement-related activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that "a number of settlers from Yitzhar settlement chopped down more than 50 olive trees in al-Naqara area north of the village."

Daghlas pointed out that the trees belong to Ahmad Odeh and Ghazi Al-Mukhtar.

He added that more than 5,700 trees have been cut down by settlers in the West Bank since the beginning of this year.

The villages south of Nablus are a frequent site of settler violence and Palestinian clashes with Israeli forces as they are located beside the notoriously violent Israeli settlement of Yitzhar.

Settlers frequently locals and prevent farmers from reaching their lands, in addition to attacks on olive trees themselves.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank is systematic and ignored by Israeli authorities, who rarely intervene in the violent attacks or prosecute the perpetrators.

In 2013, there were 399 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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