Israelis settlers chop down 45 olive trees in West Bank

Israelis settlers have once again attacked the Palestinian properties in occupied territories and chopped down dozens of olive trees in the southern West Bank.

The settlers raided lands belonging to local farmers in the area of Shaab al-Butm in the city of Hebron– also known as al-Khalil – on Friday and uprooted 45 olive trees which were at least three decades old.

Settlers, mostly armed, regularly attack Palestinian villages and farms and set fire to their mosques, olive groves and other properties in the West Bank under the so-called “price tag” policy. However, Tel Aviv rarely detains the assailants.

Price tag attacks are acts of vandalism and violence against Palestinians and their property as well as Islamic holy sites by Israeli settlers. The attacks are carried out with impunity.

Settler outposts in south al-Khalil have an adverse effect on local Palestinian communities through a combination of physical violence and restrictions on movement.

Palestinians say the violent attacks by Israeli settlers are systematic and are often ignored by Israeli officials.

The Al-Tadamun Foundation for Human Rights, a Palestinian NGO, said in an annual 2014 report that an estimated 8,000 trees, some of them hundreds of years old, were damaged and destroyed altogether by the Israelis last year.

Israel has uprooted more than 800,000 olive trees in the occupied Palestinian territories since 1967.