RAMALLAH, October 15, 2012 (WAFA) – A rise in attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian farmers and land is a cause of concern and requires international protection, Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said in a letter she sent to foreign diplomats on Monday.
“Palestinians across the country have begun the annual olive harvest this month, and once again they are being attacked by violent Israeli settlers under the protection of the Israeli military,” she wrote.
“The rapid increase in racially and politically motivated violence against Palestinians and their families is an established fact, and it poses an immediate threat to stability and peace,” she added.
“By enabling those who terrorize Palestinians, the Israeli government reveals that it does not consider our people entitled to basic physical security,” wrote Ashrawi.
“In light of a number of recent attacks and the escalation of violence against Palestinian villages and farms, the Palestinian people request that your mission to our country send observers to all major at--‐risk olive picking areas to document Israeli settler and military abuses,” she said.
“In addition, we believe your presence will be a deterrent to further violence. The number of acts of terror against Palestinians has dramatically increased in recent years,” she added.
Ashrawi said based on international reports that last year, Jewish extremists destroyed over 7,500 olive trees, 2,500 of which were uprooted in September during the olive harvest season.
In the past month alone, Israeli settlers uprooted 300 trees in the Al‐Mughayyer and Turmusaya villages, cut down 120 trees in Nablus, destroyed 100 olive saplings and 60 vine trees in Al‐Khader village, and uprooted 40 trees in Ras Karkar.
“Rather than defending Palestinian victims of terror, the Israeli military often aids and abets the attackers,” said Ashrawi.
She said that “Israel’s behavior is not only a grave violation of international law, which requires an occupying power to ensure the safety of those living under its control, but it also demonstrates the Israeli government's exploitative understanding of security cooperation with Palestinian authorities.”
She urged international intervention saying, “Given Israel's support for the settlers and its refusal to allow the Palestinian Authority to provide protection throughout the occupied territory, the Palestinian people require international intervention to ensure their security.”
“We urge every country with a diplomatic mission to Palestine to dispatch observer teams to Palestinian olive groves in order to discourage attacks by settlers, and to document any abuses that occur. We also call on the international community to demand that Israel implement the fourth Geneva Convention and uphold its legal obligations as a belligerent occupant to protect Palestinians living under its military control,” concluded Ashrawi.
M.S.
