Israel continues destroying trees in occupied West Bank

Israeli authorities decided on Tuesday to destroy and remove a Palestinian tree area in Jenin governorate in the north of the occupied West Bank, citing “security” reasons, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The agency, quoting The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, reported that the occupation authorities issued a military order to clear 59 dunams of trees (one dunam equals 1,000 square metres) in the town of Zabuba, located to the northwest of Jenin in the northern West Bank, claiming it was for security purposes.

The commission said, according to WAFA, that the repeated orders to attack Palestinian trees and crops show the occupation state’s “ongoing implementation of apartheid and racial segregation policies, restricting the rights of Palestinian landowners while channeling all resources to benefit Israeli settlers.”

Alongside the ongoing war in Gaza, which has lasted two years, attacks by settlers and the Israeli army in the West Bank have led to the destruction and uprooting of 48,728 trees, including 37,237 olive trees, according to official figures.