- Violation: Israeli heavy machines destroying 400 plants
- Location: Deir Ballout village- Salfit
- Date: July 12, 2018
- Perpetrators: Settlement of Leisham
- Victims: Farmers from the area
Details:
The Israeli occupation forces are working tirelessly on land smoothing and shaping large tracts of agricultural land in the area of Bab al-Marj, to the east of the town of Deir Ballout in the governorate of Salfit. According to the statistics available to the Salfit Agriculture Directorate (and at time of writing the report), about 82 dunums of agricultural land are being smoothed and in the process, 350 olive trees (6 years of age) are being uprooted, in addition to the uprooting of 50 saplings of stone fruits (5 years of age) and 20 fig saplings of the same age.
The targeted plants belong to Idris Hussein Abdullah (120 olive trees and 30 stone fruits), Taysir Ahmad Abdullah (150 olive trees and 20 stone fruits), and Jubara Murshid Abdullah (80 olive and 20 figs) — all of them are residents of Deir Ballout.
It is noteworthy that the dredging work is in order to expand the settlement of Leisham that is only a few meters away from the eastern neighborhood of Deir Ballout. The expansion is expected to take place at the expanse of the suffering of the 17 families living there.
Daoud Abdullah, a human rights activist in Deir Ballout town, told the Land Research Center researcher: "The Zionist idea behind the establishment of Leisham is to implement a plan to take over the entire area of Bab al-Marj and even beyond- to control the Ballout valley that expands over 10,000 acres. The Israeli occupation is using the pretext what is called state land to expand its colonial activities here."
Pictures 1-9: Dredging agricultural lands and uprooting olive trees for the expansion of Leisham
Picture 10: The settlement of Leisham that is in very close proximity to Palestinian residential and agricultural areas/ Deir Ballout
The Village of Deir Ballout:
The village is located on the Green Line, west of the Governorate of Salfit at a distance of 20 kilometers from the City of Salfit. The total area of the village is about 13,941 dunums of which 503 dunums are its built-up area. Its population is about 3873 , according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (2017), most of whom depend on agriculture as the main source of income.
The main agricultural products of the village include garlic, okra, cucumbers, wheat and olives. The presence of a water spring in Wadi Al Ain in the southern parts of the village has helped the agricultural sector to prosper. A for the drinking water of the residents of the village, they rely on water cisterns as well as on the Israeli Water Company. In terms of the main clans in the village, there are 9 of them including Tuffaha, Khair, Abdullah, Qasem, Qaroush, Mishel, Mustafa, Musa and Hadrous.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
