By Fayha Shalash – Ramallah

Illegal Jewish settlers carry out these illegal practices in various areas of the occupied West Bank with the full protection of the Israeli army.

Abdul Muti Yassin was surprised by a call from one of his relatives last September, informing him that illegal Jewish settlers were cutting down the olive trees on his land in the village of Yasuf, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.

Cutting down trees, especially ancient olive trees that characterize the mountains of the West Bank, is a routine policy implemented by the settlers under the directives of the Israeli occupation government, to steal more Palestinian lands.

Illegal Jewish settlers carry out these illegal practices in various areas of the occupied West Bank with the full protection of the Israeli army.

‘Without Olive Trees, We are Nothing’

When he received the call from his cousin, informing him that the settlers were cutting down his olive trees one by one, Yassin was not in his village.

He immediately headed back to his land, but the Israeli army prevented him from accessing it while allowing the illegal settlers to carry on what they were doing.

Dozens of olive trees were cut down, some older than 60 years old. Once they finished, the settlers left, leaving behind chaos and destruction.

“My land is located in Area B, which is supposed to be out of Israel’s jurisdiction, but apparently they have the upper hand to attack and steal whichever land they desire,” Yassin told the Palestine Chronicle.

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Over the years, this Palestinian man took extra care of his trees, visiting weekly to ensure that they were in good condition.

 “I was impatiently waiting for October so that my family and I could go pick the olives during the harvest season. Now, however, all we feel is sadness,” he said.

Yassin is also the owner of another piece of land in an area near his village. 

He anticipated going there with his family to pick olive trees during the harvest season. However, illegal Jewish settlers again stood in his way, preventing him from reaching that land as well.

“For us Palestinians, our land and olive trees are everything … without them, we are nothing,” he said bitterly.

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Use of Bulldozers

The village of Yasuf is characterized by a beautiful landscape, with olive trees disseminated across the slopes of the mountains. 

The village, however, is routinely attacked by settlers, who often cut down olive trees.

Wael Abu Madi, head of the village council, told the Palestine Chronicle that the illegal settlers have intensified their attacks on the village since the start of the Israeli genocide on the Gaza Strip over a year ago.

Settlers often attack the lands of the villagers and prevent them from accessing to their lands.

“During this olive harvest season, they are using various methods to prevent people from reaching their lands, including the use of bulldozers to expel families,” the Palestinian official explained.

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According to Abu Madi, the illegal settlers cut down over 150 olive trees on village lands classified as C last month alone. Some of these trees were more than 70 years old.

“These practices aim to expand one of the settlements at the expense of the village lands,” he pointed out.  

“We submitted an objection but were told that the lands belong to the settlers who planted parts of them with grape trees, and that cannot be undone,” Abu Madi added.

A total of 2,000 of the 6,000 dunums of the village lands have been confiscated for the benefit of illegal settlements.

The head of the village council stressed that settlers are currently doing everything they can to steal the remaining lands.

For several weeks, countless villages in the occupied West Bank have been subjected to these aggressions.

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In Burqa, east of Ramallah, settlers have carried out aggressions on an almost daily basis, cutting down that were over a hundred years old.

The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said in a recent statement that settlers destroyed a total of 9,957 trees since the beginning of the year, including 4,097 olive trees.  

A total of 3,741 trees were uprooted in the city of Nablus, 3,055 in Bethlehem, and 2,125 trees were uprooted and damaged in Hebron (Al-Khalil).

The Commission stated that the scale of the current aggressions, aimed at systematically emptying Palestinian lands and turning them into barren lands, is unprecedented.

(The Palestine Chronicle)