Israeli bulldozers uprooted trees and olive groves and bulldozed the land of the town of Bruqin to the west of Salfit in order to build more settlement units factories and large settlement infrastructure adjacent to the town.
The town of Bruqin is surrounded by Israeli military watchtowers and two Jewish-only roads that penetrate the town’s land and drains its resources without any media coverage.
Farmer Ziad Barakat was surprised when Israeli settlers cut off dozens of olive trees from his land several days ago explaining that he has been taking care of these trees for 8 years.
Barakat pointed out that the Israeli occupation authorities had handed him a notice not to work on or repair the land which he planted two years ago at the pretext that it is a state property that cannot be used. The land is three dunums in size and is planted with hundreds of olive trees.
The head of the local council of Burqin Bashir Salama said that the occupation authorities uprooted 30 olive trees aged 1-1.5 years and cut off 20 olive trees aged 8-10 years in the northern area of the town near the Khirbet Qirqash road which is surrounded by settlements built on farmers’ lands.
The suffering of the town of Bruqin is not limited to settlements only. The industrial zone of the settlement of Ariel encircles the ancient village of Qirqash from the eastern side and expands at its expense. Thieves make use of the location of the village in area C where they carry out archeological excavations in search of ancient ruins in its lands which they sell to Israeli dealers.
On the northern side of the town the farmers of the village of Bruqin watch settlers’ bulldozers razing their land without being able to stop them. They carry out their work under the protection of the occupation forces.
According to Israeli settlements researcher Khalid Maali the town of Bruqin is surrounded by two industrial zones: the industrial zone of the Ariel settlement and the Barkan industrial zone and a settlement to the north and another settlement to the west.
