Israeli bulldozers on Thursday morning leveled Palestinian lands in western Salfit province in favor of illegal settlement activity.
Palestinian farmers in Qarawat Bani Hassan and Deir Istiya to the west of Salift said the Israeli bulldozers have been leveling their land lots in an attempt to expand the adjacent Hafat Yair illegal settlement outpost.
The Israeli forces and settlers declared the razed area a nature reserve preventing Palestinians from growing crops or reclaiming their private lands.
“The Israeli occupation authorities have made use of the nature reserve pretext not to protect nature as it might seem upon first glance but rather to grab more land in favor of illegal settlement expansion as has been the case with Hafat Yair illegal outpost” Researcher Khaled Maali warned.
Maali added that the occupation authorities and settlers have been doing harm to the ecological system and damaging Salfit’s fauna and flora by uprooting olive trees and razing pastoral land as they paved the way for the construction of more illegal homes in the area.
