Violation: cutting  millennial olive trees.

Location: Al-Jab'a town/ Bethlahem

Date:  20 march 2018

Perpetrators: "Bet Ain" illegal settlers

Victim: citizen Mohammad Ali Hamdan

Details:

 20 March 2018 , settlers of "Bet Ayin" illegal settlement (built on Al-Jab'a land) cut and destroyed about  35 fertile and millennial olive trees in an agricultural land for citizen Mohammad ali Hamdan. Settlers carried out assaults against two lands . The first one (5 dunums) where 5 olive trees were completely destroyed, The second one (10 dunums) where 30 millennial olive trees were cut.

Citizen Hamdan told LRC observer:

"one of our neighbor farmers told us that he saw cutout olive trees in my land, we  immediately went there and found out that 30 of our trees were cut, this is not the first time we find ourselves victims of "Bet Ain" illegal  settlers, nor it is the first on our land, once the completely burned our olive trees"

He added:

" Despite the continuous Israeli attacks, we will hold on to our lands and trees, we will give them up to settlers who stole our land and illegally living on it"

The following chart gives additional information:

The owner of the land immediately filed charges against the perpetrators to the occupation's police, who didn’t do anything. He also informed human rights institutions, journalists and whoever may concern.

About Al-Jab’a:

It is located 25 km to the northwest of Hebron city. It is edged by the villages of Nahhalin and Wadi Fukin in Bethlehem from the north, Surif in Hebron from the south and the armistice line from the west.

 The village has a total area of 7968 dunums, of which 153 dunums are built-up area, where 1121 people live (2017 census).

The Israeli colony of Tsoref confiscated around 468 dunums from the village's lands, it was established in 1989 and is inhabited by 767 colonists.

The bypass road number 367 confiscated more than 514 dunums, where the annexation and isolation wall destroyed 340 dunums under its construction.

According to Oslo Accords lands classifications, Al-Jab'a lands are classified as follows:

• 300 dunums ( 4%) are classified as area "B", which is under Palestinian Authority control 
• 7655 dunums (96 %)are classified as area "C", Which is under full Israeli Authority control

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union

The contents of this document is the sole responsibility of LRC and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union