Israeli Colonists Uproot 27 Olive Trees in Qaryut Village

Violation:  uprooting 27 olive trees.

Location: south west Qaryut.

 

 

Date: March 13, 2010.

Violators: Eli colony inhabitants.

Victims:  Qaryut villagers.

 

A group of Israeli colonists showed up in Qaryut with nothing in their minds but to destroy the Palestinian olive trees which are considered a symbol of the Palestinian struggle.

 

The village is facing great danger, danger of colonial expansion since it is surrounded by three Israeli colonies that are expanding rapidly on the village lands.

 

 

The villagers were shocked to see the destruction done by colonists in their lands. 27 olive trees, some of them are more than a hundred years old were cut down using chainsaws and bow saws.

 

The uprooted olives were located in ‘Al Batshiya’ parcel in Qaryut, about 1 km away from Eli colony and about 400 meters away from the colonial nucleus ‘heuvall’. It must be noted that Qaryut villagers who depend largely on farming in their living because of the increasing unemployment rates used to take excellent care of the olive trees.

 

Vivtims:

No.	Farmer	Family members	Number of lost trees
1	Mohammad Al Boom	7	9
2	Yousuf ‘Azem	9	6
3	Yasir Al Boom	3	8
4	Ziyad Al Boom	5	4
Total		24	27

 

It is clear that Israeli colonists’ aggressions against the Palestinian olive have become a trend in Nablus Governorate villages and the West Bank in general.  By such actions, the colonists try to spread fear between the Palestinians to break the connection between them and their lands.

 

The colonists are having full support of their extremist government which its main objective is colonization, land confiscation, and attempting to remove not only olive trees but also the Palestinian residents.

 

Qaryut residents are living in constant dread because of the Israeli measures and because of the unstoppable colonial expansion on their lands. Moreover, the spread of colonial nucleuses on the mountains summits around the village is another concern. In addition, milling of colonial roads between the Israeli colonies in the area has cost the villagers a lot.

 

The last of these roads were one that connected ‘Shilo’ with ‘Heuvall’, a 3km long road that cost the village more than 1000 dunums of its land and which is considered a step towards building a road network that connects all the colonies in the area, which means more land expropriating.

 

Another road was opened between ‘Eli’ and ‘Heuvall’, a 1.6 km long road.

 

The village located 26 km to the south of Nablus city is one of the most agonized villages in Nablus governorate because of the surrounding 3 colonies. To the south of the village lies ‘Shilo’ colony which is built on an area called ‘Silon ruins’ that hold Islamic, Roman, and Canaanites ruins. One of the sights there is ‘The Omarian Mosque’ a mosque that is said to be build by the Muslim Caliph ‘Umar Ibn al Khattab’.

 

To the west of the village, there is Eli colony which lies on the mountains to the west of Qaryut. The third colony is ‘Heuvall’, this colony, located to the south east of Qaryut, is built on the fertile plain fields of Qaryut which used to be a very significant agricultural site.

 

 

The total area of the village is 8471 dunums including 394 dunums of built up area. 25% of the village total area is under the aforementioned colonies control. The village is inhabited by more than 3000 Palestinians. It is known for its agricultural products and yields including olive, fig, grapes, cereals, and different types of prunus.