Uprooted Olive Trees

{{ PLEASE READ IMPORTANT UPDATE BELLOW}}


Since this news item seemingly occurred right by me:

Occupiers uproot olive trees in West Bank

By MOHAMMED MAR’I | ARAB NEWS
Published: Aug 17, 2010 00:14

RAMALLAH: Jewish occupiers on Monday uprooted 250 olive trees in the West Bank villages of Kosra and Jaloud, near Nablus.

Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian Authority official monitoring settler activity in the northern West Bank, said that occupiers from nearby settlement of Shvut Rachel arrived at the groves on early Tuesday and uprooted the trees.

Daghlas added that the trees belong to Palestinian farmer Ali Abdulhamid Hassan.

I will be checking into it.

The number 250 sounds incredible unless they were saplings. It's tough to uproot an olive tree.

Jaloud is just east and north of Shiloh, on the same ridge as Achiyah. Kosra is further away from Jaloud, to the north-east.

Back in 2007, a reported 300 trees were uprooted. In 2009, at nearby al-Mughayyir, another 260 olive seedlings were reported uprooted.

There was a clash in early 2006.

Someone claims that:

Palestinians over the past 5000 years have cultivated olive trees and derived great benefit from these wonderful hardy trees

Five thousand years? 5000? But the Aarbs only arrived here in 638. Were the Jews Palestinians? The Hittites? Jebusites? Canaanites?

Are we altering history?

Well, actually, they do that.

And that's why I have to check what happened with those 250 "olive trees".

I will be back with an update.

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UPDATE - I

I spoke with our security officer.

a) there was no report of any uprooting of Arab-owned olive trees or saplings.

Moreover,

b) on Sunday night, some 200 young olive trees were scorched and burned in the area between Keida and Esh-Kodesh, trees that were Jewish-owned!!!


UPDATE - II

Israeli residents living on an illegal West Bank outpost uprooted over 200 olive trees near the Qusra village in the Nablus district Monday, a Palestinian Authority official said.

PA settlement affairs officer in the northern West Bank Ghassan Doughlas said residents of the nearby Svhut [Shvut] Rachel outpost ascended upon the village, uprooting the olive grove which belonged to Ali Abdul Hamid Mohammad Hassan.

Doughlas called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop settler attacks against Palestinians and their property.

They don't give up.

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