HEBRON, Friday, January 18, 2019 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers on Friday uprooted and chopped off 20 Palestinian-owned olive trees near the village of al-Mughayer, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according a local activist.

Faraj Na’san, former head of al-Mughayer village council, told WAFA that Jewish settlers from neighboring illegal settlements uprooted and chopped the olive trees belonging to the Na’san family, noting that the trees were there for over 30 years.

He said that uprooting olive trees has been frequent in that area as part of a plan by the settlers to make life difficult for the Palestinians in order to get them to leave it and expand their settlements built illegally on Palestinian lands.

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

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.

M.N