Land Research Center

Violation: Vandalizing 96 olive trees.

Location: Al-Mughayyir village / Ramallah governorate.

Date: October 26^th 2020.

Perpetrators: ‘Adei ‘Ad settlers.

Victims: five families from Al-Mughayyir.

Description:

Olive trees are a symbol of land Arabism, resistance, and steadfastness. Olive harvesting season is a joyful time for the Palestinian family, all family members gather to celebrate the goods of the land.

It is reported that Al-Mughayyir farmers got“permission” from the occupation authorities to harvest their olives in groves nearby ‘Adei ‘Ad settlement, the occupation set Monday morning Oct 26^th 2020, for palestinian farmers to access their lands and harvest the crop.

Farmers were looking forward to the harvesting day, but unfortunately when they reached the olive grove they found out that 96 olive trees aging 40 years old were vandalized, colonists took advantage of the farmers ban to carry out this crime.

Farmer Sa’id Abu ‘Alya (60) told LRC:

“Monday morning , I went with my brothers Raed , Saed and Mohammed , and their children (we were 15 persons) to our 45 dunums olive groves, which is located only 4m away from ‘Adei ‘Ad settlement ,  and where we are only allowed to access during ploughing and harvesting seasons , after coordination with the Israeli occupation forces , when we got to the olive grove we were shocked to see that more than 90 olive trees aging 40 years old were completely vandalized using sharp tools (as it appears) , we also saw that they vandalized other 6 trees from an olive grove that belongs to our neighbor Khair Allah Rateb Na’asan who supports a family of 6 , one of them is a child, when I saw the trees on the ground I started screaming because I have been growing them for too long and they are so dear to me, I went to the Israeli police department “Benyamin” , where they registered my complaint.”

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Photos 1-6 : The targeted trees

Abu ‘Alya asserted:  "this is not the first time the family goes under a similar attack , last March , settlers vandalized about 130 olive trees, they also ravaged the plot and took its soil to the settlement , we filed complaints several times to the coordination departments and the Police stations but nothing was done."

Noteworthy, in 1983 , before the construction of the illegal settlement ‘Adei ‘Ad, Abu ‘Alya family planted about 600 olive tree in their land. in 2010, Adei ‘Ad settlers carried out an Arson attack and set a large number of those trees on fire , and in 2013 they poisoned 89 olive trees with chemicals , in 2014 they cut and vandalized 60 olive trees , and after this year they vandalized the rest , leaving us with only 15 trees  out of 600. In the past the olive harvest used to produce 850 kg of olive oil for Abu 'Alya family.

During the last few years , Al-Mughayyir witnessed several attacks that targeted olive groves in particular , other than night raids , sabotaging car tires and writing hatred inciting slogans.

Al Mughayyir:[1]

Al Mughayyir is located 30 km to the north east of Ramallah; it is inhabited by around 3,249 people according to the PCBS statistics conducted in 2017.

Most of the village agricultural fields are located in its eastern parts; its total area is 33055 dunums, 501 of which are built-up area.

The Israeli occupation confiscated 37 dunums of Al Mughayyir lands for bypass #458.

According to Oslo Accords, about 95% of the village is under Area C while only 5% is under Area B.

Area B: 1,695 dunums

Area C: 31,360 dunums

[1] GIS-LRC