NABLUS, April 20, 2018 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers Friday chopped down 100 fruitful olive trees belonging to Burin village, south of Nablus, said a local activist.

Ghssan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank, said that Israeli settlers from Yitzhar settlement chopped down 100 olive trees, some of which were estimated to be 60 years old, besides to almond trees.

He added that settlers spray-painted racist graffiti on rocks before they fled the scene.

Meanwhile, mayor of Burin Yahya Qadoos described the settlers’ attack as a “massacre”, noting that it was not the first time that settlers attack this village.

He added that the landowner, identified as Muhammad Raja, had ploughed his plot of land,  which was deemed as his sole source of livelihood, just few days ago before he found out that his trees were chopped down.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

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

Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.

All settlements across the West Bank are illegal under international law, particularly article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which establishes that the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.

K.F.