Violation: cutting 150 trees.
Location: Deir Nizam Village – Ramallah.
Date: April 29, 2013.
Perpetrators: colonists of Halmish.
Details:
On April 29, 2013, a group of colonists broke into the eastern side of Deir Nizam village, an area known as Wadi Raya, before cutting down 150 trees (120 olive and 30 fig). The attack was carried out under the protection of the Israeli Occupation Army soldiers who stood there and watched before securing the colonists’ way out. It is known that the Israeli Occupation Army conspires with the colonists in carrying out such attacks.
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The targeted field is property of Said al Khatib who recently reclaimed the field and planted it with the support of the ICRC and the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture. It is worthy to mention that such attacks often take place in the area where many trees have been lost throughout the years.
In October 1977, the Israeli Cabinet agreed upon the establishment of Halmish colony over the ruins of a Jordanian military camp which was abandoned in 1967. A year later, the Israeli Occupation Authorities confiscated 600 dunums of Palestinian lands for that purpose in addition to hundred others that were captured over the years.
Halmish area nowadays is 2510 dunums, inhabited by around 1100 colonists. The establishment of Halmish resulted in the loss of over 1000 dunums of agricultural lands which caused drastic damage to agriculture and the economy of An Nabi Saleh. The rise of the Israeli right wing to power has accelerated colonial expansions in the West Bank; the last Israeli government was a government of "colonists" who supported colonization and capture of Palestinian properties. They also offered colonists with support and protection throughout their aggressions against the Palestinians. Colonization is the most visible obstacle of peace but the Israeli refuse to even freeze it as it serves their "bigger" plan.
