Settlers uproot hundreds of olive saplings west of Nablus

Israeli settlers today uprooted hundreds of olive saplings belonging to the villagers of Deir Sharaf, west of Nablus, according to a local activist.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors Israeli colonial settlement activities in the northern West Bank, said that settlers broke into a tract of land known as al-Harayek, which belongs to Abdul-Rahim, Abdul-Hamid and Ghazi Antari, all villagers of Deir Sharaf, and chopped down some 300 olive saplings.

He added that this was not the first time for the Antaris’ olive grove to be chopped down as settlers had destroyed some 600 saplings almost a month ago.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

Settlers violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.

Over 700,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.

The number of settlers has almost tripled since the Oslo Accords of 1993, when settlers’ number estimated 252,000. Illegal colonial settlements have leapt from 144 to 515 in that time.

Israel’s nation-state law that passed last July stated that building and strengthening settlements as a “national interest.”

Source: Palestinian News & Information Agency