Israeli Settlers Uproot 550 Olive Tree Saplings, Assault Elderly Man in Hebron

A group of extremist settlers from the Asfar (Metzad) settlement, to the east of Al Shuyoukh, on Tuesday night, uprooted 550 olive tree saplings and fled the scene.

Friday February 20, 2015 22:13



A group of extremist settlers from the Asfar (Metzad) settlement, to the east of Al Shuyoukh, on Tuesday night, uprooted 550 olive tree saplings and fled the scene. According to the Palestinian News Network, activist Ahmed Halayka reported that the land belongs to Abdel Kader and Moussa Abu Shanab Al-Ayayda, and that it is located in the area of Zaafaran, where the Asfar settlement was established.

Al-Halayka said the landowners were shocked, Wednesday morning, to see trees that had been planted only a week earlier uprooted.

The incident is not the first of its kind, as Israeli settlers every week attack Palestinian lands in occupied West Bank, where they uproot and destroy almond and olive trees under the protection of the Israeli police.

On Thursday, settlers of 'Susia' and 'Afi Jal' settlements built on Yatta lands south of Hebron assaulted and beat Palestinian citizen Jibreel Mohammad Na'man, age 55, from Yatta.

Rateb Jbour, Coordinator of the Popular Committee against Settlements and the Apartheid Wall in Yatta, reported that the settlers attacked Na'man and severely beat him, causing wounds and bruises. Na'man was transferred to hospital to receive treatment for his injuries.

Al-Jbour called on international organizations to intervene and provide protection for Palestinian citizens from the settlers' barbaric attacks, especially in the east of Yatta, noting that these violent attacks aim to force the Palestinian citizens to leave their lands and serving to benefit Israeli settlement expansion plans.

http://www.imemc.org/article/70667

They have done this to thousands of olive trees owned by Palestinians

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/01/02/343244/israel-destroyed-1000s-of-olive-trees/

The other week they burnt down a 1000 yr old olive tree in Hebron.

The terrorise the Palestinians during olive harvest

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/10/settlers-terrorize-palestinian

he Olive Harvest

Settlers beat woman picking olives with her children near Salfit
SALFIT (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — A large group of Israeli settlers on Saturday morning violently beat a young Palestinian woman while she was picking olives from trees in an orchard in the village of Yasuf in the Salfit district in the central West Bank, a Palestinian official said. The assault is the third such attack on Palestinian olive pickers in three days, creating concern about unchecked settler violence as the olive harvest kicks off across the West Bank. Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement-related activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma‘an that 25-year-old Alaa Fathi Atiyani and her children were picking olives in a field in the al-Masamic area outside of Yasuf village at the time of the alleged assault. He said that ten settlers arrived from the nearby Kfar Tappuah settlement and assaulted Atiyani, beating her “brutally.” Daghlas said Atiyani sustained serious bruises all over her body as a result of the attack. Daghlas added that Israeli troops arrived later and claimed to have arrested the assailants.
On Friday, settlers from Kfar Tappuah attacked the village and burned down several olive trees belonging to a villager. None of the assailants were reportedly detained by Israeli authorities after that assault. Because the attacks occur outside of the village, they largely fall in Area C, which is under complete Israeli military control and thus beyond the purview of Palestinian security forces, who rarely intervene. Villagers are thus subject to the whims of Israeli authorities, who rarely intervene in the violent attacks or prosecute the perpetrators. Arrests, meanwhile, are largely symbolic, and assailants are rarely charged.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=732483

Two Israelis held in W. Bank over olive pickers attack
Jerusalem (AFP) 11 Oct – Two Israelis were arrested in the occupied West Bank Saturday after a mob attacked a Palestinian family picking olives at the start of harvest season — a frequent source of tension. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP a Palestinian woman was hospitalised after being beaten with a stick and that two suspects — one of whom was a minor — had been detained. Samri said several settlers attacked the woman’s family as they gathered olives in the village of Kfar Yassuf near the city of Nablus. The olive season is often marred by soaring tensions between the roughly 320,000 Israeli settlers and Palestinian farmers in the West Bank. There are fears that this year could be particularly acrimonious following a string of settler attacks on Palestinians. One Palestinian farmer from Hebron told AFP that violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers had forced her to abandon the olive harvest for the past two years. This year, olive grove owner Hana Abu Aakil said she needs 30 volunteers to collect the crop.
http://news.yahoo.com/two-israelis-held-w-bank-over-olive-pickers-173359261.html

Settlers attack Palestinian olive farmers for 2nd time in 2 days
SALFIT (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Dozens of Israeli settlers protected by soldiers burned and damaged olive trees on Palestinian lands in the Yasuf village near Salfit in the northern West Bank on Friday, the second such attack in the last two days. Settlers from the Kfar Tappuah settlement set fire to and damaged several olive trees on Friday while Israeli soldiers in the area stood by watching, eyewitnesses said. The lands that were attacked reportedly belonged to Nafiz and Issam Ali Mansour. Issam Abu Bakr, mayor of Salfit, warned farmers against the “settlers’ attacks” and recommended residents work in groups in the lands close to nearby Jewish-only settlements…
The attacks come as the 2014 olive harvest, a major source of income for Palestinian farmers, begins across the northern West Bank, and just weeks before harvesting begins across the south. Attacks on the fall harvest are a key way that Palestinians are forced out of their homes and their lands confiscated for settlement construction, as the loss of a year’s crop can signal destitution for many. According to a 2012 report on Israeli settler violence released by the Palestine Center, a Washington-based nonprofit, every year the olive harvest period sees the highest peak in attacks on Palestinian civilians and property.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=732388

Settlers uproot, cut dozens of olive trees near Bethlehem
IMEMC/Agencies 9 Oct by Saed Bannoura — A number of extremist Israeli settlers invaded Palestinian orchards near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, before cutting and uprooting dozens of olive trees. Hasan Breijiyya, coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in the Bethlehem district, stated the settlers came from Beitar Illit illegal settlement, built on Palestinian lands belonging to residents of Nahhalin, Husan and Wadi Fokkin, and uprooted around 38 olive trees, and harvested them. The settlers also cut [down] around 200 olive trees belonging to Mahmoud ‘Atiyya Shousha, in Ebtat nearby area, next to the settlement. Breijiyya said Israeli soldiers and settlers have escalated their attacks against Palestinian orchards west of Bethlehem by illegally occupying orchards, uprooting trees and burning them, especially in orchards that became surrounded by the Beit Illit settlement, and close to it.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69340

Palestinian farmers, Israeli settlers clash near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 9 Oct — Dozens of Palestinian farmers and Israeli settlers clashed on Thursday evening in the Yanun valley near the Aqraba village south of Nablus. Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma‘an that several Israeli settlers from Itamar attacked dozens of Palestinian farmers and attempted to steal their olive crop, which belongs to the Abu Rinan family. Clashes then broke out, and no injuries were reported.
The villages south of Nablus are frequent sites of settler violence and Palestinian clashes with Israeli forces as they are located beside the notoriously violent Israeli settlements of Yitzhar, Bracha, and Itamar. Settlers frequently attack a number of local villages and prevent farmers from reaching their lands, according to UNOCHA, in addition to attacks on local olive trees themselves.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=732315

Settlers burn orchards near Bethlehem
IMEMC/Agencies 8 Oct — Settlers, last night, torched 30 olive trees dating from Roman times, in the village of Nahhalin, to the southwest of Bethlehem, according to a local activist. WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency reports that a group of people from the illgal Betar Illit settlement, located to the west of Bethlehem, set fire to lands adjacent to the settlement which were planted with olive, cypress and pine trees. Thirty Roman-time olive trees were reportedly burnt. The Nahhalin Village Profile indicates that Nahhalin village is an agricultural area, characterized by grape vines, nuts and various other crops. It also shows that 15% of local laborers work in the agricultural sector, the workers of which are listed among the economical groups most affected by Israeli occupation restrictions … Israel has seized an area of 1,411 dunams, accounting for 11.6% of the total area of the village, in order to establish three illegal Israeli settlements. Since the year 2000, Israeli forces have uprooted 450 olive trees, 320 grape trees, and 200 stone-fruit trees. Movement in and out of the village is obstructed by two iron gates set up at the village entrances, permanent and mobile military checkpoints, as well as earth and concrete mounds which surround the village.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69331

Palestinian family attacked by settlers while harvesting olives
BURIN, Occupied Palestine (ISM Nablus Team) 10 Oct — Tuesday afternoon, the 7th of October, olive farmer Mahmoud Rga Mahoud Aid, his wife, and their three children were attacked by a a group of settlers from the illegal settlement of Giv’at Ya’akov. The attack took place on the family´s land near the village of Burin, south west of Nablus. The family had only three days’ permission from the District Coordination Office (DCO) to access their land and pick their olives, starting from the 6th of October. To harvest all the olives on the land would normally take about a month. On the first day of picking, Zionist settlers came down from the illegal settlement and tried to prevent Mahmoud from entering his land. The Israeli military interfered and told the settlers to leave, and Mahmoud was able to finish his working day without further interference from the settlers. On the second day of picking the family was able to access the land but in the midst of picking the nearby soldiers started yelling at them, ”They are coming, they are coming for you!” Mahmoud looked up and saw five male settlers wearing masks coming down from the hill towards him and his family. The settlers started throwing rocks at them and Mahmoud tried to protect his family by covering them with the tarpaulin used to collect the olives in. This helped for a while, but the settlers came closer and physically attacked Mahmoud. They continuously hit him in the chest, stomach and the head, and his foot was badly bruised by a stone thrown by the settlers. The Israeli soldiers watched the settlers attack the family, but didn’t react until a considerable amount of time had passed. Eventually they came down from the hill and told the settlers to leave the area. Mahmoud walked down the hill, wounded, and was stopped by another group of soldiers who detained him for allegedly attacking the settlers and “causing trouble”. The commander called one of the soldiers that witnessed the attack and even though this soldier told the truth, stating that Mahmoud was attacked, the commander asked for Mahmoud’s passport number and personal information to make a file on him. Furthermore Mahmoud lost his permission for the third and last day of olive picking. ver a period of ten years, illegal settlers have destroyed approximately 240 olive trees owned by the family. They have about 60 trees left and the settlers keep taking over more and more of their land.
http://palsolidarity.org/2014/10/palestinian-family-attacked-by-settlers-while-harvesting-olives/

Extremist settlers ruin olive groves in Nablus village
NABLUS (WAFA) 6 Oct -– Extremist settlers ruined Monday olive groves in Yasuf to the south of Nablus, said a local activist. Settlers from Taffouh [Tappuah?] settlement ruined about 100 olive trees in Yasuf and 20 others in Burin, said Ghassan Daghlas, who is in charge of monitoring illegal settlers’ activities in the area. Daghlas added that settlers also stole the olive harvest in the nearby village of ‘Awarta.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=26710

Photo story: Our olive is resistance
Middle East Monitor 12 Oct — EXCLUSIVE IMAGES — In the week that saw the first tentative autumn showers, the annual olive harvest began to take shape in Palestine. The harvest is a period of dedicated work and celebration but is also a dangerous time when settler attacks against farmers and their families often reach a peak. The olive tree is a symbol of Palestine, its roots hold steadfastly on to the sacred land. Its aged and weathered bark talks of Palestinian history, and it is in Palestine that the world’s oldest living olive tree is reported to live. The famous al-Badawi tree in the Bethlehem village of al-Walaja was dated at between 4,000-5,000 years old by European and Japanese scientists. According to the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ), an estimated 1.2 million olive trees have been destroyed by Israel in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip since 1967. Settler attacks against farmers and their trees have begun already in the current harvest … Supporting the olive harvest is important for political, economic and social reasons according to Khaled Hidmi, the director of UAWC Ramallah: “Agriculture is a major factor in the Palestinian economy. The olive harvest brings whole families together with different family members having different roles, from the children to the elderly. Trees have been passed down through generations. Israel is trying to colonise our land and destroy our history and communities, so supporting olive farmers becomes a political act.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/14624-our-olive-is-resistance

Expert: Olive harvest to decline to half of annual average
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 12 Oct — The olive harvest in Palestine is expected to yield only half the amount of olive oil as usual this year, an expert told Ma‘an Sunday. Faris al-Jabi, who chairs the Palestinian National Center for Research and Agricultural Development, told Ma‘an that the 2014 olive harvest would not exceed 15,000 tons of olive oil. In good years, Palestine produces 30,000-32,000 tons of olive oil, but production is expected to decline this year, especially in the Salfit, Ramallah, Tulkarem, and Qalqiliya districts, al-Jabi said. In Salfit and Ramallah, olive oil production is expected to decline to 30 percent of the annual average. As a result, the price of fresh olive oil is expected to rise to 23-25 shekels (around $6.50) per kilo. The olive industry supports the livelihoods of roughly 80,000 families in the occupied West Bank.
http://www.maan
- See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2014/10/settlers-terrorize-palestinian#sthash.f4YS6lrU.dpuf

And they have the bloody nerve to call other people terrorists.