Illegal settlers cut down olive trees near Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers on Friday destroyed 100 newly-planted olive saplings and at least 60 vine trees on private Palestinian land in Al-Khader village near Bethlehem.

The coordinator of the local anti-wall committee, Ahmad Salah, said he noticed the vandalism while he was on a regular tour monitoring the town’s fields on Friday.

He approached a field belonging to Abdul-Hakim Salah in an area known locally as Mustasi or Wadi al-Shami, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Newe Daniyyel, to find out that more than 100 saplings had been cut from the root or ripped from the ground.

He added that when he entered an adjacent grape field, he discovered that more fruit trees were also cut down.

Younis Mahfouzh Mousa, the owner of the vineyard, said that as he went to his field early on Saturday morning, he found that more than 60 trees had started to wither.

When he got closer, he found that the main trunks were cut with scissors, while the trees remained on the steel support. "This vandalism is clear evidence that settlers are devoid of any human characteristic. They attack every Palestinian property including trees and stones."