HEBRON, Thursday, June 01, 2023 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers today chopped down scores of trees and erected tents in Beit Ummar town, north of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, according to a local activist.

Mohammad Awad, a media activist, said that a group of settlers, under army protection, barged their way into the agricultural land in ‘Ein al-Beida area, which constitutes part of the southern West Bank village, and cut 25 olive trees and grapevines, all belonging to Ahmad ‘Adi, a local farmer.

The settlers set up tents around the local water spring there on a plot of land belonging to Mohammad ‘Adi, another farmer.

The farmers pointed that the settlers have been constantly sabotaging the crops and intruding upon groves of Palestinian farmers in the area as a means to advance their plan to seize the water spring and expand the nearby colonial settlement of Bat Ayin.

Israeli settler violence against Palestinians is almost a routine reality in the occupied West Bank, and is rarely prosecuted by the Israeli occupation authorities.

Settler violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.

There are over 800,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in violation of international law.

K.F.