RAMALLAH (Dispatches) – Illegal Zionist settlers uprooted hundreds of centuries-old olive trees in Qaryut village in the northern West Bank, according to a Palestinian farmer and activist on Wednesday.
“Around 2,000 dunams (2 square kilometers) are now almost empty of olive trees after settlers cut down hundreds of trees,” Bashar al-Qaryuti, an anti-settlement activist, told Anadolu.
He said farmers found the trees uprooted after they were allowed by the Zionist regime’s army to head to their farmlands near the settlement of Eli.
“Most of the uprooted trees were perennial,” he added.
Mohammad Badawi, a farmer, called the uprooting of the centuries-old olive trees a “real disaster.”
“I have lost 30 olive trees out of 100 trees by the settlers,” he said.
“For years, we have been facing intimidation and abuse by Israeli settlers,” Badawi added.
According to Palestinian figures, illegal Zionist settlers have carried out some 16,663 attacks on Palestinians and lands and properties across the occupied West Bank, including East Al-Quds, since October last year
Data from the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now show that there are over half a million illegal settlers in 146 settlements and 224 outposts in the West Bank.
Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank due to the Zionist regime’s brutal onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 43,100 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.
At least 763 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 6,300 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.
The escalation follows a landmark opinion in July by the International Court of Justice that declared the Zionist regime’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Al-Quds.