Palestinian farmers at Sakout planting their land after they were able to return to it. Israeli settlers are trying to sabotage their work. (Photo courtesy of UAWC) 

RAMALLAH, November 7, 2017 (WAFA) – The Union of Agricultural Work Committee (UAWC) called on Tuesday to support Palestinian farmers in Sakout village in the northern Jordan Valley after settlers had forced a farmer to leave his land and sabotaged a water pipe built to irrigate crops.

The said in a statement that Israeli settlers protected by the army attacked Zamel Daraghmeh and his family while they were working on their land planting it with vegetables and forced them to leave it.

The settlers also sabotaged a water pipe the had built to help the area farmers reclaim their land and irrigate their crops.

UAWC said the Palestinian farmers in Sakout, whom the army had not allowed to reach their land since 1967, were able to win a court order allowing them to work on their land after they proved ownership. The order affected 3500 dunums of land out of a total of 5600 dunums.

It said the settlers were not happy to see the Palestinian farmers return to their land and plant it will all kinds of crops and therefore they attacked them and forced them to leave their land, as was the case with Daraghmeh.

“This attack will not be the last and failure to act now will give the settlers an opportunity to continue with their attacks in the area until they kick out all the farmers,” warned UAWC in the statement.

M.K.