Palestinian farmers from Salfit province have raised alarm bells over the repercussions of Israel’s settlement activity and settler break-ins into Salfit’s natural sites and reserves.
Researcher Khaled Maali said Israeli settlers have been ransacking natural sites in Salfit among other areas in the occupied West Bank and placing Hebrew-speaking banners to mislead visitors about the history of the sites.
Israeli settlers have also been swimming in Salfit’s spring waters of which they claim ownership and attending lectures on their alleged Israeli history.
Maali and the Palestinian locals stressed the need to rehabilitate such natural sites particularly water springs and resources located near Israeli settlement outposts and in the Israeli-occupied Area C and to intensify the presence of Palestinian students and visitors in the area so as to protect such a resourceful natural legacy and enlarge the younger generations’ knowledge about their natural heritage.
