BETHLEHEM, October 5, 2017 (WAFA) - With the olive picking season just around the corner, Israel closed on Thursday a rural road in Housan, west of Bethlehem, making farmers’ access to their land the more difficult, according to Hasan Hamamreh, head of Housan village council.
He told WAFA that an army force closed a rural road between Housan and Wadi Foukin by placing a metal gate and barbed wire around the land, which would make it very difficult for farmers to reach their land to pick olives or for any other reason.
He said 500 dunums of agricultural land has been affected by this act, which comes as farmers prepare to harvest their olive crops, considered a major source of income for thousands of Palestinian families.
The targeted land is located near the illegal settlement of Bitar, built on expropriated Palestinian land, which raises concern of landowners of possible Israeli future takeover under the claim that the land is not used by its owners.
M.K.
