Under the pretext of preserving nature: the Israeli occupation ravages 300 olive saplings in Nablus

Under the pretext of preserving nature: the Israeli occupation ravages 300 olive saplings in Nablus

 

Violation: ravaging olive trees

Location: Salim village-Nablus

Date: 09/03/2015

Perpetrators: Israel Nature Authority

Victims:  agricultural families

Details:

A massive force from the Israeli occupation accompanied by a staff from Israel Nature Authority on March 09, 2015 raided the area of Al-Raqraq, east Salim village and nearby the bypass road that leads to Elon Moreh colony.  

It should be marked that a dozer accompanying the force ravaged 30 agricultural dunums causing the uprooting of 300 olive saplings, which were planted by the beginning of 2015. The area was targeted by Green Palestine project through the Ministry of Agriculture; the location is 1.5km east Salim village and 2km west Elon Moreh colony.

The Israeli occupation claimed the ravaged area as a natural reserve according to Oslo Accords signed with Palestinians in 1993. The attacked saplings are owned by Adel Shtaiyeh, Mohammad Shtaiyeh, and Othman Shtaiyeh and Hamdan Hamdan from Salim village.

A contradicting reality:

 At time the Israeli occupation banns big number of Palestinian families from using and planting their lands under the pretext of “closed military zone” or “nature reserve”, it grants itself the right to confiscate and loot more lands in all possible ways.

It should be marked that the colony of Elon More is located on lands relative to Jordan Lands Treasury; this colony was the starting point to lands takeover and confiscations.

 

Photos 1-2: Elon Moreh colony

 The Israeli occupation army is considered an accomplice of colonists in looting lands; it declared a vast area of lands in the periphery of Elon Moreh colony as closed military zone in an attempt to take over the area. The wall surrounding Elon Moreh colony is in itself a means to steal and grab more lands to expand at the expense of Palestinian property; the area of such a land became five times in size in comparison to the past four years.

About Salim:

Salim village is located 3.5 km to the east of Nablus city; the village is edged by the town of Deir Al-Hattab from the northwest, Beit Furik from the south, Ruweijib from the west, and Beit Dajan area from the east.

Salim has a total land area of 10, 793 dunums, of which 803 dunums are the village’s built-up area. It has a population of 5062 people (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics PCBS-2007)

 

 

Prepared by
 The Land Research Center
LRC
 

 

Categories: Agriculture