09.06.2021 14:42
Israeli army says trees planted on nature reserve, according to Palestinian farmer.
Israeli forces on Wednesday destroyed some 150 olive trees in the occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian farmer.
"An Israeli force and bulldozers stormed our land and chopped down olive trees planted 10 years ago," Mohammad al-Deik from Kafr al-Dik village, west of Salfit city in the northern West Bank, told Anadolu Agency.
He said the Israeli army claimed that the trees were planted on a nature reserve.
"They prevent us from planting our own land, while bulldozers uproot the trees and construct settlements instead of them," al-Deik said.
According to Israeli and Palestinian figures, around 650,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in 164 settlements and 116 settlement-outposts.
International law regards both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.
Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara -