Israeli Troops Uproot Dozens of Palestinian Olive Trees in Bethlehem

Bethelehem, MINA – Israeli occupation forces uprooted dozens of olive trees on Palestinian property on Wednesday morning in the village of Al-Jab’a in the town of Bethlehem, south of the West Bank, Wafa news agency reported.

According to the head of the Israeli Anti-Wall and Illegal Settlement Commission Office in Bethlehem, Hassan Breijieh, Israeli armed forces carrying bulldozers stormed the Saf Khamayseh area, west of the village.

The destruction of Palestinian olive trees by Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers has become a nearly daily routine in recent years.

Speaking to Wafa, the Head of the Al-Jab’a Dhiab Masha’le Village Council added that they used heavy machinery to knock down hundreds of dunums of agricultural land belonging to the Masha’le family and uproot dozens of olive trees.

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Located about 13 kilometers southwest of the city of Bethlehem, Al-Jab’a has a population of nearly 1,200 people and occupies a total area of about 8,000 dunums (8 square kilometers), of which 92 percent is considered arable land, and the remaining eight percent is residence.

Palestinian olive oil producers based in the occupied West Bank have faced enormous difficulties as Israeli authorities have confiscated or denied access to agricultural land, uprooted aging trees and controlled water resources.

More than 800,000 Palestinian olive trees have been uprooted by Israeli authorities and settlers since 1967, according to research from the Jerusalem Institute of Applied Research. (T/RE1)

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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)