Dozens of olive trees uprooted by Israel in West Bank: Farmer

By Qais Abu Samra
SALFIT CITY, Palestine (AA) – Israeli forces on Wednesday destroyed some 150 olive trees in the occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian farmer.

"An Israeli force and bulldozers stormed our land and chopped down olive trees planted 10 years ago,” Mohammad al-Deik from Kafr al-Dik village, west of Salfit city in the northern West Bank, told Anadolu Agency.

He said the Israeli army claimed that the trees were planted on a nature reserve.

"They prevent us from planting our own land, while bulldozers uproot the trees and construct settlements instead of them,” al-Deik said.

According to Israeli and Palestinian figures, around 650,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in 164 settlements and 116 settlement-outposts.

International law regards both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.

Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara