Israeli settlers have once again attacked Palestinian farms in the occupied West Bank and destroyed over a hundred trees and saplings.
On Monday, settlers uprooted more than 50 olive saplings in the town of al-Khader, south of Beit Lahm. They also cut and uprooted 85 grape vines along with more than 30 olive and almond trees in the Hal-houl town, north of Hebron (al-Khalil).
The agriculture industry, olive cultivation in particular, provides livelihood for about 80,000 Palestinian families in the West Bank. Israeli forces and settlers regularly attack Palestinian villages and farms and set fire to their mosques, olive groves and other properties in the West Bank under the so-called “price tag” policy.
Price tag attacks are acts of vandalism and violence against Palestinians and their property as well as Islamic holy sites by Israeli settlers.
Earlier in March, Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian properties in occupied territories and chopped down some 300 olive trees in the village of Majdal Bani Fadilan, south of the city of Nablus.
The attacks are carried out with impunity. Palestinians say the violent attacks by Israeli settlers are systematic and are often ignored by Israeli officials.
The Al-Tadamun Foundation for Human Rights, a Palestinian NGO, said in an annual 2014 report that an estimated 8,000 trees, some of them hundreds of years old, were damaged and destroyed altogether by the Israelis last year.
YH/HJL/HMV