Damaging 27 olive trees and destroying a agricultural room in Nablus

November 18, 2013

Violation: cutting down 27 olive trees and demolishing a agricultural room

Date: 18/11/2013

Location: Qusra/ Nablus governorate

Perpetrators: Aish Kodesh colonists

Victims: three agricultural families

Details:

On November 18th 2013, Qusra village, located in the southern suburbs of Nablus went through an attack carried out by colonists who were protected and fully supported by the army of the occupation. At the early hours of mornings , a group of Aish Kodesh colonists raided the eastern part of Qusra known as Qita' al-Kamel and cut down 27 olive trees aging 7 years, using a power-saw.

In the same context, colonists went further in the attack and demolished parts of two agricultural rooms that have been funded by the French Embassy as an aid for the farmers. In addition, colonists destroyed a 70 m fence surrounding a piece of land.

The following table shows information about the affected lands' owners:

Affected farmer	Family	Nature of damage	Notes
Ali Hassan	7	12 trees cut down and demolished parts of a agricultural room	Had his trees cut down for the fifth time
Waleed Hassan	4	11 trees cut down ,demolished parts of a agricultural room, demolished fence	Had his trees cut down for the fourth time
Tal'at Hassan	6	4 trees cut down	Had his trees cut down for the second time
Total	17	27 trees, major parts of two agricultural rooms and a fence

Field observation- Monitoring Israeli Violations Department- Land Research Center-2013

It should be marked that the area of Qita' al-Kamel is considered a hot spot in terms of Israeli targeting and violations. Since 2013, the area underwent more than 9 attacks that reached out famers and trees. The mayor of Qusra village council Abdul'atheem al-Wadi to the LRC researcher asserted the following:

"the targeting operations have been intense since three years. Qusra witnessed more than 53 attacks carried out by colonists, 2700 trees cut down, 400 injured due to the Israeli violation, 6 cars burned down, 22 stop work orders served, and 18 sheep killed".

About Qusra:[i]

It is located 23 km to the south of Nablus city and is administered by Qusra village Council. Qusra is surrounded by Jurish (south), Talfit (west), Majdal Bani Fadil (east), and Mizpe Rachel colony (south).

Qusra is inhabited by 5644 people according to 2014 PBS population projections. Its total area is 8886 dunums that include 775 dunums of built up area.

The Israeli occupation confiscated 223 dunums of the village lands for the sake of: