Dozens of olive trees uprooted by Israel in West Bank: Farmer
Israeli army says trees planted on nature reserve, according to Palestinian farmer
SALFIT CITY, Palestine
Israeli forces on Wednesday destroyed some 150 olive trees in the occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian farmer.
"An Israeli force and bulldozers stormed our land and chopped down olive trees planted 10 years ago,” Mohammad al-Deik from Kafr al-Dik village, west of Salfit city in the northern West Bank, told Anadolu Agency.
He said the Israeli army claimed that the trees were planted on a nature reserve.
"They prevent us from planting our own land, while bulldozers uproot the trees and construct settlements instead of them,” al-Deik said.
According to Israeli and Palestinian figures, around 650,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in 164 settlements and 116 settlement-outposts.
International law regards both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.
*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara
