Israel ‘Defence’ Forces to destroy Palestinian farms in occupied West Bank

The Israel “Defence” Forces handed over orders to Palestinian farmers on Sunday in the village of Battir on the outskirts of Bethlehem, giving notice that soldiers will be razing their farms to the ground and destroying their grapevines, Anadolu has reported.

The occupation army’s pretext for the destruction is that the vines are being planted in Area C, which is under the security and administrative domination of the Israeli authorities. According to activist Omar Al-Qaisi, though, the vines were planted five years ago.

Area C takes up 61 per cent of the area of the occupied West Bank. Israel won’t allow the building of any Palestinian facilities there or the cultivation of any land without a licence from the occupation authorities, none of which are ever issued.

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Meanwhile, a group of illegal Jewish settlers have damaged a water tank being transported to Palestinians living in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.

Moreover, in the north of the occupied Jordan Valley, another group of settlers have erected a mobile home a couple of metres far from an Israeli military base. The area has apparently been a “closed military zone” for almost 40 years, say, local Palestinian activists, which illustrates the fact that such zones are intended to prevent a Palestinian presence while paving the way for illegal settlement growth.