Israeli settlers dawn on May 1 chopped down over 150 fruitful olive trees belonging to Burqa village, east of Ramallah.
Local sources confirmed that settlers from a neighboring illegal settlement outpost, under heavy Israeli military protection, uprooted and destroyed the olive trees belonging to the villagers of Burqa.
Ibrahim Kan’an, a local farmer whose olive trees were destroyed, said that settlers tried to assault him while he was ploughing his land two days ago.
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.
Source: WAFA
