Report: Israeli settlers uproot 25 olive trees near Nablus

[ProgressiveMuslim]

Published today 17:43
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Nablus – Ma'an – Settlers from Israel's Eli area uprooted 25 olive trees from the Al-Batshisha neighborhood of Qaryut village in the northern West Bank, an official said Friday.

Residents discovered the destruction Thursday morning, when they arrived at the agricultural lands approximately 600 meters away from the Eli settlement.


Report: Israeli settlers uproot 25 olive trees near Nablus
Published today 17:43
Font- Font+
Nablus – Ma'an – Settlers from Israel's Eli area uprooted 25 olive trees from the Al-Batshisha neighborhood of Qaryut village in the northern West Bank, an official said Friday.

Residents discovered the destruction Thursday morning, when they arrived at the agricultural lands approximately 600 meters away from the Eli settlement.

Ghassan Daghlas, who holds the settlement file for the northern West Bank, reported the incident, which followed on the heels of the destruction of at least 40 fruit trees just north of the area the week before.

Qaryut village council head Abed An-Naser Al-Qaryuti said “this is the second time the settlers had uprooted and chopped olive trees of the village only within a week.”

Al-Qaryuti said the trees were on land belonging to Mohammad Jaber,Ahmad Jaber, Abed Al-Aziz Al-Mardawi and Yaser Hasen.

Daghlas denounced the destruction, and demanded international law and previous agreements be implemented immediately to halt what he described as Israeli crimes.

more...
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=269934

[ProgressiveMuslim]

1. I don't care about religious buildings much, but THIS IS A DESECRATION.

Any settler to destroys an olive tree should be permanently deported.

Disgusting.

[aranthus]

2. If true, this is a crime.

Actually several. Deported to prison would be better.

[LeftishBrit]

6. I agree

[Violet_Crumble]

7. The buck stops with the Israeli govt when it comes to responsibility..

Successive Israeli governments have allowed settlers to carry out criminal acts against Palestinians and haven't done what they should have done, which is remove those criminals from the West Bank. While some like to make out the settlers are separate from the govt, they couldn't do what they do unless the Israeli govt turned a blind eye to what they did...

[aranthus]

8. Agreed. n/t

[Posteritatis]

13. Those things take decades to mature to productivity, don't they? (nt)

[pelsar]

17. some of the olive trees can be 100s of years old....n/t

[Turbineguy]

3. The trees

were wearing bomb-belts and looked like they'd voted for Hamas.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

4. Well, they ARE green...

[Jefferson23]

5. The folks doing this have a twisted understanding of what you're suppose to do

with an olive branch.

[aranthus]

9. Well said. n/t

[LeftishBrit]

10. Indeed.

[Eg-ptiangirl]

12. They want Palestinians to leave

And they will not. No more hate actions and suppression that will make the Palestinians leave their country.

[Ken Burch]

15. Correct. The idea is, if you uproot the trees, you uproot the people.

I won't repost Leon Rosselson's "Song of the Olive Tree" here, but I'll put in the link to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyTtbUT7O_4

[Violet_Crumble]

11. Everyone should watch this B'Tselem video...

27 Jan. '09: B'Tselem calls on army to make it clear to officers and soldiers serving in the Occupied Territories that their duties include protecting Palestinians

On 15 December 2009, settlers prevented Palestinian farmers from planting olive trees on the farmers’ land in Deir Nidham, north of Ramallah. Soldiers at the scene did nothing to prevent the harm to the Palestinians. Instead, they closed the area to all civilians, Palestinians and settlers.

A B’Tselem worker documented on video a first lieutenant, who refused to identify himself, treating the Palestinians rudely and ordering them to leave. In response to her question as to whether it was his legal duty to also protect Palestinian residents, he replied that it was not, and contended that it was his job to protect only the settlers. The officer called the Israeli activists who came to the site to plant trees with the Palestinian farmers traitors and added that, in Israel, the penalty for treason is death.

The officer’s contention that it is not the army’s function to protect Palestinians blatantly contradicts international humanitarian law, Israeli High Court of Justice judgments, and the conclusion of various commissions, among them those headed by Yehudit Karp and Meir Shamgar. The army’s duty to ensure the well-being and safety of Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories has become a binding norm, and state officials have repeatedly stated that the army acts accordingly.

B'Tselem wrote to the judge advocate general, demanding that measures be taken against the officer that reflect the severity of the matter, and that all soldiers serving in the Occupied Territories – primarily officers responsible for the manner in which soldiers carry out their functions – be informed that they have the duty to protect the well-being and safety of the Palestinians living there.

http://www.btselem.org/english/Video/20100127_Officer_Conduct_in_Deir_Nidham.asp

[Scurrilous]

14. Cases against settlers suspected of arson closed

West Bank Jews detained near torched Palestinian olive grove won't be prosecuted. 'Affair a leftist provocation,' one of them says

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3871330,00.html

<snip>

"The Tel Aviv District Prosecution decided last week to close the cases against two Jewish settlers suspected of setting Palestinian olive groves on fire, citing lack of guilt.

Human rights group Yesh Din called the decision 'outrageous', saying it constitutes a failure on the part of the prosecution and Israel Police to enforce laws aimed at preventing "ideologically-motivated offenses" against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The two suspects, Itai Zar of Gilad Farm and Tzvi Yehuda Gorkovitch from Kedumim were suspected of torching olive groves located near the village of Amtin in August 2008. The fire in question followed a violent clash between Palestinian and settlers from Gilad Farm.

The settlers did not cooperate with investigators and did not explain why they were near the site when the fire broke out. A search of a vehicle driven by Gorkovitch found a jerry can containing a flammable substance."

The police officer who arrested Gorkovitch said the settler's hands "reeked of a flammable substance".

[Violet_Crumble]

16. That's the sort of thing that gives settlers the green light to carry on with their violence n/t