Middle East Monitor / August 21, 2023
Jewish settlers destroyed crops in the Masafer Yatta area to the south of Hebron/Al-Khalil on Sunday, when they let their livestock graze on fields belonging to Palestinian farmers, Safa has reported.
Local activist Fuad al-Amour told the agency that a group of armed settlers, protected by the Israeli army, raided fields belonging to Palestinian farmers and released their livestock, causing severe damage to crops. A fence owned by two Palestinians identified as Shehadeh Makhamreh and Farid Hamamdeh was also damaged.
The settlers also threw nails on the roads used by Palestinian civilians in the Israeli-occupied territory, causing traffic jams and forcing Palestinian drivers to take alternate routes.
Israel continues to impose restrictions against Palestinians and violate them and their property in Masafer Yatta, with the aim of forcing the indigenous people to leave their land in favour of settlement expansion.
All of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem are illegal under international law, as are the Jewish settlers who live in them.
