Holy Land: Israeli settlers uproot newly planted olive saplings

Scene of desolation

Israeli settlers uprooted more than 5,000 newly planted olive saplings in Al-Khader Village south of Bethlehem and in Turmusaya near Ramallah.

Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the Popular Resistance Committee against the Wall and the Settlements in Al-Khader village, reported that the settlers uprooted 80 one year-old olive saplings from the Khader lands near the Hebron-Jerusalem main road close to Neve Daniel and El'Azar Israeli settlements.

Salah added that the land is subjected to the settlers frequent assaults. Most recently Palestinian farmers there have been notified that the settlers are going to confiscate 80 acres of their land.

In Ramallah, local sources reported that the settlers uprooted 5000 thousand olive saplings from the agricultural lands of Turmusaya village near the settlements area 'Adi Aad' built on the lands of the Palestinian village.

The sources added that the violent uprooting happened on Thursday morning and that the land owners and citizens of the village filed a report at the Palestinian Military Liaison office. Israeli sources say an investigation has been opened into the incident.

In the past ten years many thousands of olive trees have been uprooted or cut down by Israeli settlers moving into the West Bank. Organisations including Rabbis for Human Rights, Christian Peacemakers Teams and the Red Cross regularly organise volunteers to plant new trees and protect farmers from harassment at harvest time - but as one farmer said: "Some of our trees are over a thousand years old. When a tree like that has been destroyed it cannot be replaced."