Israeli settlers chopped down 250 Palestinian owned olive trees on Tuesday, belonging to residents of Betello village northwest of the central West Bank city of Ramallah.Orchard owner Fawzi Dar Bazar discovered that his olive trees had been chopped down and destroyed when he and his family went to their orchard on Tuesday. He added that this was not the first time his orchard and several others belonging to other residents of his village had been attacked.
He added that Israeli settlers of the nearby Nahleel illegal settlement carried out repeated attacks against Betello residents and their land, seemingly encouraged by the lack of action on the part of the Israeli army.
He further stated that in his view settlers are trying to force the residents off their land so that they can expand their illegal settlement.
Last month, Israeli settlers chopped down at least 1576 olive trees across the West Bank – in three Palestinian villages near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Al-Kahder town near Bethlehem, the towns of Sa’ir and Beit Ummar near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Beit Ello village near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, Far’ata village near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia and Mas-ha village near the central West Bank city of Salfit. In addition five Dunams (1.23 Acres) of farmland have been uprooted near Qalqilia.
