On Sunday, illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers invaded Palestinian orchards in the village of Yasuf, east of Salfit, in the occupied West Bank’s central part, and uprooted at least 100 olive trees.
Wael Abu Madi, the head of the Yasuf village council, said the colonizers are preparing for the expansion of the illegal Neveh Hamaya colony, built on stolen Palestinian lands.
Abu Madi added that the colonizers have cleared approximately 6 dunums of land in the Al-Sarab area, situated between Yasuf and Iskaka, and have uprooted olive trees that are between 50 and 60 years old to make way for the colony’s expansion and the construction of a segregated bypass road.
He further noted that the bulldozed land and uprooted trees belong to locals, including the brothers Abdullah, Ahmad, and Hanan Mustafa Al-Abed, as well as Ziad and Zoheir Jamil Abdul Razzaq, and emphasized that this area is located roughly 100 meters from the homes of the villagers and is cultivated with olive trees, the main source of livelihood to the villagers.
Abu Madi also expressed concern that colonizers will continue their violations and proceed to uproot and bulldoze more lands and orchards to further their illegal colonialist activities, encroaching on the lands of the Yasuf community.
Also, the colonizers hurled stones at Palestinian cars near the Israeli military roadblock at the main emittance of Deir Ballout town, west of Salfit, causing damage.
In related news, illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers attacked a Palestinian home and stole nine sheep in Khirbat Al-Himma community in the Northern Plains of the Jordan Valley 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.”
