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Sunday, November 27, 2005
Israeli settlers destroy Palestinian olive trees
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A Palestinian woman embraces the trunk of an olive tree after it was destroyed as an Israeli troop looks on in the West Bank village of Salem, near Nablus November 27, 2005. Jewish settlers cut down and uprooted hundreds of olive trees on Palestinian farms near the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, residents and Israeli police said. Settlers from the most radical enclaves in the occupied West Bank have often attacked farms since the start of the Palestinian uprising in 2000. Settlers say that the land, which Palestinians want for a state, is theirs by biblical birthright. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini
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Israeli settlers destroy Palestinian olive trees
27 Nov 2005 13:13:09 GMT
Source: Reuters
NABLUS, West Bank, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Jewish settlers cut down and uprooted hundreds of olive trees on Palestinian farms near the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, residents and Israeli police said.
Settlers from the most radical enclaves in the occupied West Bank have often attacked farms since the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000, in which settlers have often been targeted by militants.
Settlers say that the land, which Palestinians want for a state, is theirs by biblical birthright.
Residents of Salem said dozens of settlers from Elon Moreh chopped down hundreds of the town's olive trees, the main source of income for 5,000 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.
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.
Settlers' anger has grown more intense since Israel removed settlements from the Gaza Strip this year under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for breaking from conflict with the Palestinians.
Although Sharon has said he has no further plans for unilateral withdrawals, he has said that some isolated West Bank settlements would have to go under any eventual peace deal. Elon Moreh is one of the smaller settlements.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2733560.htm
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