In the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Israeli troops reportedly attacked Palestinian farm land, earlier on Monday, and army bulldozers began razing olive trees in an area estimated at four acres in size.
Local Palestinian sources said that the farm land razed is located between the Kafa and Shoufa villages, southeast of Tulkarem city in the northern occupied West Bank.
Local activist from the ‘Defense of Farm Lands’ group, Tahseen Hamed, told media outlets that more than 10 Israeli army bulldozers, backed by armored vehicles and several armed Israeli settlers, embarked on bulldozing the farm land and uprooting the olive trees, among other crops.
Hamed said that the razed farm land belongs to the Palestinian families of Hamed, Aref and Yaccoub, and is located west of the illegal Israeli settlement of Avni Hefetz, which was erected on the soil of the Palestinian villages of Alshofa, Kafa, Kufr Albalad and Alhafasy.
The activist explained that such Israeli actions are considered to be provocative and aggressive, as they harm Palestinian property, for the sake of protecting nearby illegal Israeli settlements, mainly the Avni Hefetz settlement.
He noted that few months ago, Israeli troops closed main roads, leading to those farm lands by placing large sand piles. Since then, Israeli soldiers prevented local farmers from reaching their farm lands, activist Hamed added.
Throughout the Palestinian West Bank, there are hundreds of Israeli settlements, considered illegal under international law and relevant United Nations’ resolutions.
Israel occupied the West Bank, back in 1967 and a decade later, the occupation state embarked on settlement construction.
