Middle East Monitor / October 31, 2022
Jewish settlers razed 180 olive trees belonging to Palestinians today in the villages of Tarqumiyah and Qaryut, located northwest of Hebron/Al-Khalil and Nablus, reported Arab48.
This comes in addition to the Israeli occupation forces imposing a ban on Palestinian farmers in Beit Furik, based in eastern Nablus, from picking olives, just hours before the farm owners were due to harvest their crop.
In many instances Palestinian owners of the olive orchards have only been allowed access to their trees twice a year through special permits and coordination.
The Mayor of Beit Furik, Aref Hanani, confirmed that the Israeli occupation authorities violated the coordination agreement to allow Palestinian farmers to harvest olives from the area near the illegal Jewish settlement of Itamar.
Hanani explained that the ban is an opportunity for settlers to steal this year’s crop and the occupation authorities have not provided another date for the farmers to resume harvesting their olive.
Over 100 olive trees belonging to Palestinian families in the village of Tarqumiyah have been razed this morning by settlers from the settlement of Eli. An additional 80 trees were uprooted from Qaryut in Nablus.
The olive harvest is the main source of income for thousands of Palestinian households.
Settlers have been responsible for destroying thousands of olive trees in the occupied territories over the years, primarily around harvest season, to maximize damage.
Olive trees are symbolic of the Palestinian attachment to their land. Drought-resistant, growing under poor soil conditions, and living and bearing fruit for thousands of years, the trees represent Palestinian resistance and resilience in the face of the Israeli occupation.
