NABLUS, April 14, 2018 (WAFA) – Dozens of Palestinians participated on Saturday in planting olive trees in the northern West Bank village of Qousin, west of Nablus, in a bid to prevent its takeover by Jewish settlers aiming to expand their illegal settlement built in that area, according to the head of the anti-wall, anti-settlements authority Walid Assaf.

He told WAFA that the mission was to plant olive trees in an area of the West Bank under full Israeli military control and designated as Area C, which is under threat of being taken over for the expansion of the illegal settlement of Kedumim, built on expropriated village land.

Assaf said planting the trees and opening roads leading to that area was part of a bigger project his authority has adopted to protect vulnerable Palestinian land from takeover by the settlers.

He said the land which was reclaimed in the village of Qousin was slated for takeover to expand the settlement’s industrial area at the expense of hundreds of dunums of village land.

Reclaiming the land and opening access roads to that area of the village will help villagers access their land to work on and develop it in order to protect it from expropriation.

M.K.