NABLUS, October 17, 2017 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers stole the olive harvest from Palestinian-owned land in the villages of Farata and Jitt, east of Qalqilya, an official said on Tuesday.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors Israeli settlers’ actions in the north of the West Bank, told WAFA that landowners from these two villages discovered when they reached their land adjacent to the illegal settlement of Hafat Gilad that the olive crops have been harvested and some trees were even cut down.

Farmers had obtained an Israeli army permit to reach their land to pick the olives but were shocked when they reached them that at least 450 olive trees have already been cleaned from their crops.

Daghlas said people should go to their land near the settlements and harvest it before the settlers steal their crops and not wait for the army permit.

The olive harvest season, which has just started, is the most important income generator for thousands of Palestinian families in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army demolished on Tuesday retaining wall farmers had recently built on their land to prevent landslides in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, according to Ibrahim Wadi, a village activist.

He told WAFA that the farmers had reclaimed their land three months ago in order to cultivate it but the army brought a bulldozer and destroyed the stone walls.

In addition, the army also blocked a road to a garbage dump on the outskirts of the village, said Wadi.

M.K.