A horde of Jewish settlers escorted by soldiers on Monday wreaked havoc on Palestinian-owned olive groves belonging to local residents from Kafr Qaddum village east of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank.
Saqer Obeid one of the landowners said that settlers pitched a tent on his own land which is located near the illegal settlement of Kedumim chopped off several olive trees and stole olive drupes from other groves belonging to other villagers.
The dispossession and violence that mark Israel’s policy in the West Bank peak during the olive harvest when Palestinians need to access their land to pick olives off their trees according to human rights group B’Tselem.
Every year B’Tselem documents dozens of incidents in which settlers assault Palestinian farmers steal olives and vandalize trees farming equipment and work tools.
Such settler crimes happen under the noses of soldiers who are always present in nearby areas escorting the assailants or watching them from a distance.
