Ravaging 37 Olive Trees in Qusra village – Nablus Governorate

Violation: ravaging 37 olive trees.

Location: ‘Baslato’, Qusra – Nablus.

Date: September 9, 2011.

Perpetrators: Yish Adam colonists.

Victims: a numbr of Qusra farmers.

 

The olive trees are facing an unprecedented attack in the form of blazing, cutting, and uprooting on the hands of Israeli colonists who strive for spreading terror and destruction on the Palestinian lands. The olive tree has become a primary target for these colonists who make every effort to drive the Palestinians out of their lands.

 

 Details:

In the early morning hours on September 9, 2011; a group of Yish Adam colonists (built over Qaryut) ravaged 37 olive trees in Baslatu area, eastern Qusra. The colonists used melee weapons to cut branches of the trees and damage them severely. Ravaging the trees was committed concurrently with torching Al Norayen mosque in Qusra which occurred a day earlier.

 

 

 

Most of the trees are around 30 years of age.

Yish Adam was established in 2006 as an amendment to Shilo colony; it have been expanding rapidly ever since while devouring tens of dunums of Palestinian lands.

 

The colonists use Yish Adam as a starting point for their aggressions against Palestinian farms and villagers in different areas; one of them is Baslatu, 2 km to the west of the colony; it has been recorded that all the olive trees has suffered from attacks in the area.

 

  Qusra – an Overview:

It is located 18 km to the south east of Nablus city and is administered by Qusra village Council. Its total area is 9878 dunums that include 776 dunums of built up area. However, this area does not cover the expansion requirements of the village which forced a lot of the locals to build their houses in areas classified ‘C’ according to Oslo. Qusra is inhabited by 4377 people according to the PBS statistics of 2007.

 

It must be pointed that in 1982, Qusra and the nearby Jurish villages faced a large scale land grab campaign in preparation for the establishment of Majdulim colony which now covers an area of 170.6 dunums inhabited by 152 colonists.

 

On the other hand, Qusra is suffering from the increase in demolition orders issued against structures in the village. More than 15 structures are facing real demolition threats.

 

 

Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC