Israeli bulldozers on Sunday uprooted dozens of Palestinian-owned olive and almond trees in Bab al-Marj area of Deir Ballut town west of Salfit.
Eyewitnesses said that the bulldozers leveled vast tracts of privately-owned lands in the area under the pretext that they are “state property”.
Mayor of Deir Ballut Kamal Mousa said that the bulldozing operation launched by Israel’s so-called Civil Administration in Bab al-Marj and Iraq al-Tota areas in Deir Ballut serves a project to expand Leshem settlement illegally built on Palestinian lands.
For his part anti-settlement researcher Khaled Ma’ali said that the Israeli occupation authorities claim that the land confiscation notices handed to the residents of Deir Ballut are based on military orders and that the buildings established by Palestinian citizens on the targeted lands are unlicensed.
Ma’ali affirmed that these orders are part of a larger plan to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The Palestinian researcher stressed that Israel violates international humanitarian law and Fourth Geneva Convention especially Articles 59 and 49 which prohibit land confiscation and transfer of Israeli civilians to occupied territories.
He noted that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of 1998 considers any act that causes widespread long-term and severe damage to the natural environment and violates the principle of proportionality a war crime.
