Israeli occupation bulldozers razed dozens of dunams of Palestinian agricultural land on Sunday morning north of the village of Yasuf, adjacent to the illegal Israeli colony of Tapuach, east of Salfit in the occupied West Bank’s central part.
Local officials say the destruction is part of a systematic campaign to seize land, expand colonial control, and undermine Palestinian agricultural livelihoods.
Wa’el Abu Madi, head of the Yasuf Village Council, said the bulldozing targeted privately owned olive‑planted lands belonging to several farmers.
He described the operation as “a deliberate policy aimed at confiscating Palestinian land, depriving families of their primary source of income, and imposing a new colonial reality at the expense of the land’s rightful owners.”
Abu Madi added that Israeli occupation forces who prevented farmers from reaching the area.
He called on human rights organizations and international bodies to intervene urgently to halt the “continuous violations against Palestinian land and people.”
Part of a Wider Pattern in Salfit
The Salfit governorate has seen a sharp escalation in Israeli bulldozing, land‑clearing, and olive‑tree uprooting operations throughout 2025.
Local councils and agricultural committees report that Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted olive groves, grazing areas, and privately owned farmland in an effort to expand illegal colonizer outposts and restrict Palestinian access to agricultural land.
In recent weeks, Israeli forces uprooted hundreds of olive trees in the Deir Istiya and Qarawat Bani Hassan areas, while bulldozers cleared large tracts of land near the colonial road network that connects Tapuach with surrounding illegal colonialist outposts.
Farmers and municipal officials warn that these operations are designed to sever Palestinian communities from their agricultural lands and consolidate Israeli control over strategic hilltops.
Agricultural experts note that olive cultivation covers roughly half of all agricultural land in the occupied West Bank, and that tens of thousands of families rely on the harvest for income.
The destruction of olive trees — many of them decades or centuries old — is widely viewed by Palestinian communities as both economic devastation and cultural erasure.
Escalating Pressure on Area C Communities
Residents of Yasuf and surrounding villages say the bulldozing is part of a broader strategy to pressure Palestinian communities in Area C, where Israel maintains full control, to abandon their land.
Local councils warn that the pattern of bulldozing, colonizer attacks, and military restrictions is aimed at expanding the footprint of illegal colonies and tightening Israeli control over the Salfit district.
Abu Madi stressed that the latest bulldozing in Yasuf “is not an isolated incident but part of a continuous, systematic assault on Palestinian land,” urging international intervention before more farmland is lost.
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 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
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”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
