Settlers have destroyed hundreds of olive saplings in the town of Nahalin, west of the occupied Bethlehem, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.
Hussein Shakarneh expressed his surprise today when he entered the land he owns with his cousin, Ali Shakarneh, in the Ain Faris area west of the town, only to discover that the settlers had cut down 200 olive saplings.
Local sources reported that a group of settlers had established a pastoral outpost in the Ain Faris area, where they set up two large sheds for raising livestock. He noted that these actions will deprive Palestinians of their land and added that the area has been subjected to repeated attacks by settlers from the illegal settlement of Beitar Illit, involving the discharge of sewage water, which has led to crop damage and water contamination.
The Wall and Settlement Affairs Authority stated that settlers killed ten Palestinians last year and ignited 373 fires in properties and fields in the governorates of Nablus, Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Jenin and Tulkarm, uprooting and damaging a total of 14,212 trees, including 10,459 olive trees.
Hebron topped the list of governorates in terms of the number of damaged trees, with 3,980 trees affected, followed by Bethlehem with 3,791 trees damaged and uprooted, and then Nablus with 2,737 trees affected and uprooted.
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