Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem, reported that a number of armed extremist settlers uprooted 20 olive trees and 15 grape trees that belong to the residents of the village.Salah told the Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) that the uprooted trees belong to resident Rezeq Sbaih.
The land in question is close to the illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat, built on lands that belong to residents of Al-Khader.
Salah stated that Sbeih’s land had been repeatedly targeted by the settlers, and that he has been repeatedly prevented from entering his own land as the army requires him to obtain a special permit from the military.
Salah repeatedly filed for permits to enter his own land, but his applications were denied under claims of “security considerations”.
Late on Monday at night, dozens of armed Israeli settlers gathered at the southern entrance of Al-Khader town, and closed bypass road #60 that links between Eztion settlement bloc and Jerusalem.
