Settlers continue their attacks on Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest season, as today, Friday, they destroyed dozens of seedlings and fruit trees in several areas in Masafer Yatta, south of the city of Hebron in the West Bank.
According to what the Palestine News Agency reported, citing local sources, the settlers destroyed and broke more than 200 olive, almond and grape seedlings, cut irrigation pipes, and stole a water pump owned by a citizen.
The sources added: “They also stole electricity cables, destroyed a water tank in the Al-Ain Al-Bayda area in Masafer Yatta, and cut a water line feeding the community, in Al-Tha’la Dam, and threatened citizens with death.”
Target of attacks
Settlers intensified their attacks on Palestinians and their property in Masafer Yatta, after the aggression on the Gaza Strip, with the aim of displacing them from their lands for the benefit of colonialism.
Three days ago, agricultural relief crews and volunteers in the Salfit Governorate, Palestine, monitored a group of repeated attacks committed by occupation soldiers and settlers against farmers during the olive harvest season.
According to Palestinian agricultural relief crews, farmers in the villages of Yasuf, Askaka, Kafr al-Dik, Kifl Haris and Marada, in addition to the city of Salfit, were subjected to a series of attacks. They included beating and shooting at farmers, injuring a number of them, stealing crops, and cutting down trees, with the aim of intimidating them, expelling them, and preventing them from carrying out their work of picking olives under the protection of the occupation army.
The olive sector is the largest agricultural sector in Palestine
The olive sector in Palestine is the largest agricultural sector, and more than 110,000 Palestinian families live in this sector. It is also considered one of the traditional sectors that distinguish the Palestinian people through the means and methods of picking, which usually produce high-quality oil varieties that are marketed and consumed locally and internationally.
Agricultural Relief considers that the conflict based on the olive tree, with its symbolism, is a conflict over land, and for this reason it organizes many campaigns and events during the olive season under the title “We Are With You Campaign” to help them and strengthen their steadfastness on their lands by mobilizing volunteers and distributing production inputs to them.
