2025-03-17
Settlers from "Eli" Cut Down and Destroy 150 Centuries-Old Olive Trees and Agricultural Properties in As Sawiya Village / Nablus Governorate
- Violation: Cutting down centuries-old trees, attacking agricultural properties, and stealing some of them.
- Location: As Sawiya Village / Nablus Governorate.
- Date of Violation: 17/03/2025.
- Perpetrating Party: A group of settlers from the "Eli" settlement.
- Impacted Party: Several farmers.
Description:
As Sawiya Village, located south of Nablus city, witnessed on Monday (17/3/2025) a new attack by a group of settlers from the "Eli" settlement, which is established on parts of the village's lands from its eastern side.
The settlers targeted the "Al-Qalila" area and "Jabal Al-Shunah" region belonging to the village's lands. Several years ago, the occupation established an outpost called "Neve Shoham" belonging to the Eli settlement, located about 100 meters away. These settlers used an electrical machine specialized for cutting trees to cut and destroy the branches of 150 centuries-old olive trees in that location, causing significant losses to the farmers.
Additionally, in the same period, a group of settlers raided the plains of As Sawiya village, targeting two agricultural plots by stealing 160 iron angles and destroying metal fences that surrounded these agricultural plots.
The damaged trees and agricultural plots are owned by a number of families:
Impacted Farmer | Family member | Female Member | Children Number | Targeted Land Area | Damage |
Mohammad Dawod Abdul-Fattah Abdul-Raziq | 6 | 3 | 2 | 4 | Pruning branches of 25 perennial trees and partially damaging them |
Nael Adel Raja Kheir-Allah | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | Cutting and vandalism of branches of 45 perennial trees, causing partial damage
|
Jamil Abdul-Qader Mahamdeh | 7 | 4 | 2 | 7 | Vandalism and cutting of 80 olive trees with partial damage |
Mohammad Mahmoud Sulaiman Jazzi | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4 | Theft of 80 iron angles and vandalism of a fence spanning 60 meters |
Jamil Ahmad Mahmoud Mahamdeh | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | Theft of 80 iron angles and vandalism of an 80-meter metal fence |
Total | 24 | 12 | 5 | 5 |
|
The farmer Mohammed Dawood Abdel Raziq reported to the Land Research Center's researcher as follows:
"The lands that were targeted by the settlers - which in the past, before the war on Gaza, were easily accessible for cultivation and caring for the trees - those trees during the olive season in the previous year used to produce no less than 15 tanks of olive oil. But after October 7th, 2023, we were unable to enter the land except after obtaining prior coordination during the past olive season, and only for a few hours. We were unable to harvest the olives, and many fruits remained on the trees, as the occupation tries to impose the principle of prior coordination, and we are now unable to enter our lands"
"He added:
"On Monday afternoon, I was informed by several farmers who live at the entrance of the village that there were sounds of saws in my land and in the entire area, where the sound could be heard from a distant area since the region is mountainous. Immediately, we monitored the area from afar and noticed a group of settlers in the land cutting down trees. In reality, we cannot go there because of the presence of the occupation army. We informed the village council, which in turn informed the civil coordination in Nablus, but there were no real results. The settlers cut down all the olive trees that I inherited from my fathers and grandfathers, which are like a son to me, as I have watched their growth since I was a child."
It is worth noting that according to the field research records of the Land Research Center team, As Sawiya village is considered one of the villages and towns most subjected to continuous harassment by settlers. Over the past twenty years, settlers have, at various times, cut tree branches and vandalized a large number of lands, in addition to closing vast areas and preventing farmers from entering, which has caused significant losses to the agricultural sector in the village. It is known that most of the targeted lands are concentrated in the eastern part of the village, surrounding the 'Eli' settlement and its associated outposts.
As Sawiya Village[1]:
The village of As Sawiya is located 20 km south of Nablus city. It is bordered from the north by the villages of Yatma and Yasuf, from the west by the village of Lubban al-Sharqiya, from the east by the villages of Talfit and Qabalan, and from the south by Lubban al-Sharqiya village and the 'Eli' settlement established on part of its lands.
Its population is (2,761) inhabitants as of the year (2017).
Its total area is 10,733 dunams, of which 310 dunams are a built-up area for the Jalama village.
The occupation has confiscated (2,662) dunams of its lands, and the details are as follows:
- Settlements have plundered (2,022) dunams from the village's lands, which are:
- The Bypass Road No. 60 has plundered (640) dunams from the village's lands.
Land Classification According to the Oslo Accord for the Village:
- Areas classified as B: (1,459) dunams.
- Areas classified as C: (9,274) dunams.
- مشروع: حماية الحقوق البيئية الفلسطينية في مناطق "ج" SPERAC IV - FCDO
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
