- Violation: seizure of olive seedlings and chopping up others.
- Location: the lands of the town of Kafr ad-Dik / Salfit governorate.
- Date of violation: 04/01/2022.
- Perpetrators: the “Alei Zahav” settlers.
- Affected party: Farmer Saleh Ali Ahmed.
The violation details:
The town of Kafr ad-Dik, west of Salfit governorate, is a vivid example of the increasing frequency of attacks carried out by the Israeli settlers in the West Bank against the Palestinians and their lands with the aim of imposing new demographic facts on the ground.
In this context, the occupation established an industrial zone just one kilometer from farmers’ lands in the area called Khallet al-Qamh. This industrial zone has become a nightmare for Palestinian farmers and land owners in that area because of the settlers’ repeated attacks.
The latest attack was carried out on Tuesday afternoon, January 4, 2022, whilst farmer Saleh Ali Ahmed, 62 years old, from the town of Kafr ad-Dik, was with his sons planting olive saplings in his 20-dunum plot of land. They were surprised by a large group of settlers forcing their way into his land and preventing him and his sons from accomplishing their tasks. The attackers summoned the occupation army, which in turn, claimed that the land was state land, and ordered the farmer to leave the land after confiscating his “Fiat” tractor. In the meanwhile, the settlers seized 80 olive seedlings at the age of 4 years and moved them along with confiscated tractor into the nearby settlement of “Alei Zahav. The affected farmer managed to get 170 seedlings planted in his land before the arrival of the settlers and army who seized the remaining number of seedlings as mentioned above.
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It is noteworthy that the affected farmer had tried to stay on the land but the occupation army threatened to arrest him along with his sons if he fails to abide by their orders.
The next day the occupation army brought five bulldozers into his land with the aim of constructing a water pipe serving the “Alei Zahav” settlement. 7 dunums out of his 20 dunums plot of land were bulldozed to lay infrastructure for this water network, and 56 olive seedlings out of the already 170 planted were uprooted and destroyed.
At the end of work, the occupation army closed with earth mounds the only agricultural road leading to the “Khalat al-Qamh” area in order to prevent farmers’ access into their lands. Thus, farmer Saleh Ali Ahmed and his fellow men will be facing a big problem in serving their land, especially since he owns 50 beehives in that specific area. By so doing, the Israeli occupation has completely closed the area, cutting off the farmers’ source of income and eliminating Mr. Saleh’s dream for a decent life. He is the breadwinner of a family of 7 members, including 3 females. It is noteworthy that the field research team at the Land Research Center, over the past years, has monitored dozens of attacks carried out by the settlers in that area, such as cutting olive plantations, destroying agricultural properties, beating farmers and preventing access to their agricultural lands.
