Illegal Israeli colonists, on Friday, uprooted Palestinian-owned olive saplings, in Kisan village, east of Bethlehem, in the southern occupied West Bank.
The deputy head of Kisan village council, Ahmad Ghazal, told Palestinian WAFA News Agency that colonial settlers uprooted 20 olive saplings under the protection of the Israeli army.
The local villagers banded together to prevent the colonists from destroying additional saplings, belonging to Ayoub ‘Abiyyat.
In related news, the Israeli occupation authorities, on Thursday, declared the expropriation of 193 dunams from Palestinian lands in the central West Bank district of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, according to a local official.
In a press statement, the mayor of Deir Dibwan municipality, Mansour Mansour, said the occupation authorities have announced their plans to seize the lands belonging to Deir Dibwan and nearby Rammun village.
Mansour added that the lands will be confiscated for the benefit of the illegal Israeli colonists living in the occupied West Bank, however Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention forbids the occupying power [Israel] from transferring its own population onto the land it occupies [Palestine].
Settler attacks against the occupied Palestinian population are a frequent occurrence in the West Bank, often times under the protection of the occupation army.
