NABLUS, Saturday, August 15, 2020 (WAFA) – Illegal Israeli settlers uprooted today dozens of olive saplings belonging to Palestinian villagers in the village of Asira ash-Shamaliya, to the north of Nablus city in the occupied West Bank, according to a local source.

Naser Jawabreh, in charge of the Ministry of Information office in Nablus, told WAFA that settlers, protected by an army escort, broke into an agricultural area in the vicinity of the village, before they embarked on uprooting the olive saplings that have been planted by Palestinian activists in the area, which is facing an Israeli threat of confiscation.

He said that settlers yesterday attempted to set up tents in the same area, but were confronted by local citizens who forced them to leave the area.

Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property is commonplace in the occupied West Bank, and is rarely prosecuted by the occupation authorities.

There are more than 450 thousand Jewish settlers living in the occupied Palestinian Territory in violation of international law.

M.N