A group of Jewish settlers on Wednesday chopped off dozens of Palestinian olive trees in Masafer Yatta south of the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil.
Local sources affirmed that dozens of settlers from the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Yair chopped down 70 olive trees in Khillit al-Dabe hamlet of Masafer Yatta owned by a local resident.
The settlers had also let their herd of sheep free on planted agricultural land destroying the crops.
Soaring settlers’ violence has raised concerns among activists of a concerted campaign against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank a report by the UK-based newspaper The Independent has found.
This year’s (olive) harvest – which started in October – has seen a surge in attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian olive farms with dozens of incidents reportedly recorded by Israeli authorities and documented by an Israeli rights group.
Data compiled by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show that since the start of the olive harvest people known or believed to be settlers have damaged or stolen the harvest from over 2000 Palestinian-owned trees.
