JENIN, August 3, 2015 (WAFA) –
Stun grenades and teargas canisters fired by Israeli soldiers during a raid on
the town of Ya’bad, to the west of Jenin, on Monday caused fire to erupt in a
Palestinian-owned land, according to local sources.
Samer Abu Baker, Head of Ya’bad
municipality, said large Israeli army forces stormed the town in the early
morning, while firing heavy tear gas and stun grenades, provoking
confrontations with the town’s locals, however, No injuries or arrests were
reported.
He said that the heavy firing
of tear gas canisters by forces caused a nearby land planted with olive trees
to catch fire.
Soldiers also mounted the
rooftops of several homes in the town during the clashes and turned them into
military outposts.
The town, which is located in
Area B, under Palestinian civil control and Israeli military control, has been
a target of almost daily Israeli violations, which mainly include repeated
closures of agricultural roads and uprooting of olive trees.
“The ongoing Israeli settlers’
violence and the access restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinians with
regards to accessing their olive groves, continue to negatively impact their
lives and livelihoods,” said UN Humanitarian Coordinator James Rawley.
Rawly said the annual olive
harvest is a vital economic, social and cultural component for the Palestinian
livelihood, because “nearly half of all cultivated land in the occupied
Palestinian Territories (oPt) is planted with olive trees.”
Communities with olive groves
located between the Israeli Segregation Wall and the 1967 borders, and in the
vicinity of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, face serious challenges in
maintaining and harvesting their olive crops. “This undermines livelihoods and
increases dependency on aid,” an OCHA’s statement read.
“Thousands of Palestinians are
denied permits to access their olive groves located behind the Barrier for
‘security reasons’ or because they are unable to meet Israel’s criteria to
prove a ‘connection to the land,” noted OCHA.
Settler violence poses a
serious challenge for many Palestinian farmers. Palestinian-owned olive trees have
been damaged, uprooted, poisoned, burnt down or harvested by settlers, it said.
According to an OCHA weekly
report covering the period between 23-29 June, 2015, “Five Israeli settler
attacks resulting in injury or damage to Palestinians and their property were
recorded, including the physical assault of two Palestinians in East Jerusalem
and Hebron; arson of 20 dunums of land near At Tayba village (Ramallah); and
damage to a vehicle as a result of stone-throwing near Majdal Bani Fadil
(Jericho).”
According to OCHA statistics,
the olive oil industry constitutes 25% of Palestinians agricultural income.
M.N./T.R.
