The Israeli destruction in Al-Mughayyir near Ramallah is part of the push to force the Palestinians, said the researcher.
The Israeli army has destroyed around 3,000 olive trees in a village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to the head of the local council, while the Palestinians are faced with a wave of violence continuously through the territory of the War of Israel against Gaza.
The Israeli army has made the order to uproot the olive trees in an area of 0.27 m² (0.1 m²) in Al-Mughayyir, a village of approximately 4,000 inhabitants north-east of Ramallah.
The army justified the measure by saying that the trees represented a “threat of security” against a main road to Israeli colonization which crosses the lands of the village.
The destruction was carried out while Al-Mughayyir has been under rental since Thursday after an Israeli colonist said that he had been shot in the region.
The deputy chief of the village council, Marzouq Abu Naim, told the Palestinian news agency WAFA that the Israeli soldiers had stormed more than 30 houses since dawn on Saturday, destroying the property and vehicles of residents.
For decades, the Israeli army has uprooted the olive trees – an important Palestinian cultural symbol – through the Palestinian territory occupied within the framework of the country’s efforts to grasp the Palestinian land and force the residents.
The West Bank also had an increase in military violence and Israeli settlers since Israel launched its war against Gaza in October 2023, and tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave their homes.
More than 2,370 Israeli settlers’ attacks against the Palestinians were reported throughout the region in January 2024 at the end of July of this year, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Coordination (OCHA).
The greatest number of attacks – 585 – was recorded in the Ramallah region, followed by 479 in the Nablus region in the north of the West Bank.
At least 671 Palestinians, including 129 children, were also killed by Israeli forces and Israeli settlers through the West Bank during the same period, Ocha said.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to the request for comments from Tel Aviv Tribune on Saturday on the derascination of the olive trees in Al-Mughayyir.
Hamza Zubeidat, Palestinian researcher, said that destruction was part of Israel’s “continuous” effort to force the Palestinians of their land.
“We must be clear that since 1967, Israel is still implementing the same eviction plan for the Palestinian population of the countryside and cities of the West Bank. What is happening at the moment is only a continuous process of this expulsion from the Palestinians.
He noted that Al-Mughayyir has a long agricultural history and, like other villages in the West Bank, is based almost entirely on agriculture and livestock as the main source of income.
“This area where more than 3,000 olive trees (have been) uprooted is one of the most fertile areas of this part of the Ramallah region,” said Zubeidat.
“The uprooting of trees, confiscated sources of water, blocking and prevention of Palestinians to access their farms and their sources of water mean more food and water insecurity.”
