Palestinian farmers from the West Bank city of Salfit on Monday said that the Israeli occupation forces prevented them from entering their farmlands located behind the Apartheid Wall.
Palestinian official Ibrahim al-Hamad told the PIC reporter that the Apartheid Wall gates are closed most of the time which adversely affects the Palestinian farmers’ main source of income.
For his part the Palestinian researcher Khaled Ma’ali said that the Israeli forces sometimes refuse to open the gates for farmers despite earlier coordination. The gates are often opened a few days a year and sometimes during the olive harvest season.
Ma’ali described the Israeli practices as a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law”.
He added that these practices fall in line with an Israeli plan aimed at forcing Palestinian farmers in Salfit to give up their lands which will be later annexed to Ariel settlement the second largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
