Ma’an – 23/02/2010

Nablus – Israeli settlers cut down dozens of olive trees in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Ghassan Daghlas, who holds the PA’s northern settlements portfolio, said residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement chopped down 45 olive trees on land belonging to Burin, a Palestinian village near Nablus. The trees were planted on property owned by cousins Suhail Najjar, Murad Ma’roof Najjar, and Issa Mahmoud Najjar, the official said.

Daghlas denounced what he termed the continuous aggression, particularly in villages near settlements. He urged human rights organizations to immediately intervene on behalf of affected farmers.

An Israeli military spokesman told Ma’an that the Civil Administration, a branch of the country’s Defense Ministry in the occupied territories, received a complaint about the incident. Civil Administration representatives were dispatched to the scene to investigate, he added.

On Sunday, settlers smashed windshields of cars driving along the Nablus-Jenin road and assaulted a Palestinian doctor. “Attacks by settlers on Palestinians in the Nablus district continue, almost every day,” Daghlas said at the time.


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