Description

Photo:
Illustrative scene. File. Published by Maan News
______

NABLUS (Ma’an) -- A group of Israeli settlers from the infamously extremist Yitzhar settlement in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus uprooted a number of olive trees near the village of Burin on Wednesday.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who tracks Israeli settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an that a number of Israeli settlers from Yitzhar uprooted 27 olive trees in Burin.

The trees belonged to Ratiba Qadous, and were planted tens of meters away from the settlement.

Daghlas added that the settlers escalate attacks on neighboring Palestinian communities during olive picking season, as villagers’ olive trees are oftentimes located on lands taken over by Israel closer to the Yitzhar settlement. Some residents are permitted to enter their lands to access their olive trees only during olive harvesting season.

Settlers from Yitzhar are well-known to be some of the most extremist Israelis living in the West Bank, and have burned hundreds of Palestinian-owned olive trees over the years.

On Friday, Israeli settlers from the Rechelim settlement uprooted and sawed down 43 olive trees in al-Sawiya area of the southern part of Nablus city.

Some 600,000 Israeli settlers reside in occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international law. The international community has repeatedly called their presence and rising population the main impediment to potential peace in the region.

Features