AL-KHALIL, (PIC)
Israeli settlers attacked on Friday Palestinian shepherds, while Israeli occupation forces (IOF), offered protection to another group of settlers who prevented the farmers from reaching their lands in Masafer Yatta, south of Al-Khalil.
Anti-settlement activist Osama Makhamreh said a group of settlers from the “Havat Ma’on” settlement, illegally established on Palestinians’ lands, chased the shepherds in the Al-Tuba hamlet in Masafer Yatta, and prevented them from reaching the pastures.
Meanwhile, the IOF along with a group of settlers prevented Palestinian farmers from plowing their lands and planting it with winter crops near Susya in Masafer Yatta.
Makhamreh pointed out that the pace of the IOF and settlers’ attacks on Palestinian farmers and shepherds has deliberately escalated to make them miss the winter planting season, which poses a serious threat to the residents’ ability to raise sheep and preserve their livestock, which is their primary if not the only source of income.
