A group of Israeli settlers invaded the village of Bruqin, near Salfit in the northern West Bank, early Monday morning, and uprooted a grove of 15 olive trees. This follows a similar uprooting of over 100 trees, the week before, in Yatta village.The Israeli military and settlers have destroyed close to one million Palestinian olive trees since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza began, according to the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem. These trees represent the main source of livelihood for thousands of Palestinian families.
According to the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, the trees uprooted by the settlers on Monday belong to the Sheikh Omar family, and their destruction will cause the family significant economic hardship.
The settlers who carried out the attack entered village land from the illegal outpost colony of Brukhin, constructed on illegally seized lands.
Many of the previous incidents of olive tree destruction by Israeli settlers that have been reported to the Israeli occupying authorities in the West Bank have gone uninvestigated by the Israeli military.
