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A Palestinian woman embraces
the trunk of an uprooted tree |
Jewish settlers have cut down and uprooted hundreds of olive trees
on Palestinian farms near the West Bank city of Nablus, residents and Israeli
police said.
Residents of Salem said dozens of settlers from Elon Moreh on Sunday chopped
down hundreds of the town's olive trees, the main source of income for 5000
residents.
"This is not the first time that settlers have cut down dozens of olive
trees. Among them were trees more than 30 years old," said Adli Eshiya,
a local councillor. Villagers said it was the sixth such attack this year.
Police said that at least 200 olive trees had been destroyed near Salem and
that an investigation had begun.
A spokesman for Elon Moreh settlement, Benny Katsover, said he was not aware
of the incident.
Farms target for attack
Settlers from the most radical enclaves in the occupied West Bank often have
attacked farms since the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000, in which settlers
have often been targeted by Palestinian factions.
Settlers say that the land, which Palestinians want for a state, is theirs
by biblical birthright.
More than 245,000 settlers live in the West Bank, home to 2.4 million Palestinians.
The World Court has said that all of Israel's settlements on land captured in
the 1967 Middle East war are illegal. Israel disputes this.
