Violation: Cutting and damaging 50 olive saplings and trees.
Location: Sinjil town, north of Ramallah.
Date of Violation: 22/10/2024.
Perpetrators: A group of settlers.
Affected Party:

Description:

A group of settlers attacked an agricultural plot in Sinjil, damaging the trees planted on the land.

Farmer Nasser Issa Khalil reported that while heading to his land in the "Abu Al-Awf" area north of Sinjil on the morning of Tuesday, October 22, 2024, he was shocked to find that settlers had cut and damaged the branches of 30 olive trees, 25 years old, and uprooted 20 olive trees, 5 years old, causing significant damage.

The settlers did not stop there; they also stole the olive fruits from the trees before destroying them.

Farmer Nasser Issa stated:

"I headed with a number of farmers towards the 'Abu Al-Awf' area, located north of the town. We usually go there regularly, but since the events of October 7 and the war on Gaza, our movement in the area has decreased due to the constant presence of settlers and their repeated attempts to attack us.

What happened recently is that we went to the land to harvest the olives, but we were shocked to find that the settlers had destroyed 50 trees on my one-dunum plot. They completely cut down 20 trees, five years old, and damaged 30 trees, 25 years old, by cutting their branches. It seems that the settlers also stole the olives before damaging the trees.

This land used to provide us with no less than six tanks of olive oil every season."

It is worth noting that the affected farmer supports a family of five members, including two females, with no minors among them.

The "Abu Al-Awf" area has long been a target of settler ambitions. In the past, numerous attacks have been carried out there, resulting in significant damage to many trees. Settlers have also conducted dozens of assaults, including preventing farmers from accessing their lands, burning dozens of olive trees, and sabotaging lands with the intent of establishing several illegal outposts.

Introduction to the Town of Sinjil:[1]

Sinjil is located 20 km north of the city of Ramallah. It is bordered to the north by the village of Al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, to the west by the villages of Abwein and Jaljuliya, to the east by the villages of Qaryut and Turmus'ayya, and to the south by the village of Al-Mazra'a al-Sharqiya. As of 2007, the population of the town was 5,236. The total area of the village is 14,028 dunams, of which 888 dunams are built-up land for the village.

The Israeli settlements have seized 551 dunams of the village's land, with these settlements located on part of the village's territory. The settlements are: "Ma'ale Levona," established in 1983, which confiscated 298 dunams of the village's land and is inhabited by 497 settlers; and the second, "Eli Settlement," established in 1984, part of which is located on the village's land, seizing 253 dunams and housing 2,058 settlers. Additionally, the bypass road number 60 has confiscated more than 246 dunams. The village's land is classified according to the Oslo Agreement into areas A, B, and C, where Area A constitutes 14%, Area B makes up 30%, and the largest area, classified as C, is under complete Israeli occupation control, making up 56%. The areas are listed in dunams:

• Area A: 1,980 dunams
• Area B: 4,140 dunams
• Area C: 7,908 dunams

[1]Source: LRC.

The Olive Harvest Season is Full of Risks:

In reality, the issue is not just about security or granting permits for farmers to access their lands during the harvest season. It is more about the intentions of the occupation and settlers, who aim to turn these lands into their own territory, allowing them to engage in acts of cutting, burning, poisoning, and overgrazing, culminating in the theft of the olives that the Palestinian farmer has been waiting for all year. This olive harvest is a source of income for the farmer and provides olive oil for his household and extended family.

The violation experienced by farmer Yassin is not an isolated incident; it has been repeated with the same methods for many farmers from the neighboring villages of Farata and Amatin. Settlers have grazed their sheep on the farmers' lands, causing significant damage to the olive trees, in addition to acts of cutting and damaging the trees by the settlers.

The occupation targets olive fields near settlements, along with any infrastructure that serves these settlements, such as bypass roads, the annexation wall, racial expansion, surveillance towers, and military camps. During this harvest season, the Field Research Team at the LRC documented, as of the report’s preparation date, attacks on 7,245 olive trees, most of which are ancient trees, 65% of which were completely destroyed. Additionally, settlers stole more than 16,530 kg of olives—either by picking them directly from the trees or by stealing them from the farmers after they were harvested, often after assaulting the farmers and threatening them with weapons.

Legal Comment:

The Palestinian environment, in general, is subjected to numerous environmental violations by the Israeli occupation, which disregards all international and national laws and conventions related to the protection of environmental rights. The right to live in a clean and healthy environment is a fundamental human right, inherent to all people since the dawn of time. The occupation often attempts to present itself as concerned with international environmental issues, despite signing major agreements for environmental protection, including the Basel Convention in 1989, the Rotterdam Convention in 2008, the Stockholm Convention in 2001, and the Ramsar Convention in 1971, as well as air quality and climate protocols. Despite this, Israel continues to violate all these treaties without accountability or oversight.

In addition to the provisions related to the right to enjoy a clean and healthy environment for all those under military occupation, as per international laws, conventions, and treaties, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (General Assembly Resolution 2200A (d-21), December 16, 1966), Article 1, Clause 2: "...all peoples have the right to freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising from international economic cooperation, based on the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case shall a people be deprived of its means of subsistence..."

There is no doubt that the violations committed by the Israeli side contradict the laws of the "occupying power" before any other laws. Referring to the details of this case, we find that the Israeli Penal Code of 1977 and its amendments stipulate that trespassing on the property of others to commit a crime punishable by law is prohibited. Article 447 states: "Anyone who commits any of the following with the intent to intimidate, insult, or harass the owner of a property, or to commit a crime, shall be punished with imprisonment for two years:

(1) Entering or crossing the property; (2) After entering the property legally, remaining there illegally.

(b) A crime is committed under this section if the perpetrator carries a firearm or a weapon, and the penalty is imprisonment for four years."

Upon reading the text of this article, we find that the Israeli Penal Code criminalizes the mere act of entering someone else's property without justification for the purpose of insult, harassment, or intimidation, and punishes such an act with two years of imprisonment. The penalty is increased if the offender enters and commits a crime on someone else's property using a weapon, a sharp tool, or any other form of assault, such as using the land as if it were their own and working it as they please. This is explicitly criminalized in the aforementioned article of the Israeli Penal Code.

Therefore, the Israeli offender, by cutting down the trees, has caused a blatant environmental pollution in the area, violating both international laws and treaties as well as the laws of the "occupying power" itself in a clear violation. Thus, the "Israeli judiciary" must hold the settlers accountable and punish them for these actions based on their own laws. However, there has been no legal accountability for the offenders by the Israeli judiciary. Nonetheless, this does not negate the right of any person on this land to live in a clean, healthy, and safe environment, free from any violations or assaults.

مشروع: حماية الحقوق البيئية الفلسطينية في مناطق "ج" SPERAC IV - GFFO

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of Land Research Center and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the project donor; the Norwegian Refugee Council.

إخلاء المسؤولية: الآراء ووجهات النظر الواردة في هذا التقرير هي آراء ووجهات نظر مركز أبحاث الأراضي ولا تعكس بالضرورة وجهات نظر أو مواقف الجهة المانحة للمشروع؛ المجلس النرويجي. للاجئين