On Wednesday, illegal Israeli paramilitary colonizers invaded Palestinian orchards in Yasuf village, east of Salfit in the occupied West Bank’s central part, and cut down at least 100 olive trees.
Wael Abu Madi, the head of Yasuf Village Council, stated that the colonizers cut more than 100 trees, some of which were planted by Palestinians 70-80 years ago, while others were planted about ten years earlier.
Abu Madi added that the invaded orchards are in the Al-Mashrafa area, in the northern part of the village, and are owned by Mahmoud Raja Abdul-Fattah, Tareq Mit’eb Abdul-Fattah, and Anwar Zuhri Yacoub.
On Wednesday evening, a group of paramilitary colonizers stormed Khirbet Hamsa in the Northern Plains of the occupied West Bank.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
