Violation: uprooting ancient olive trees.

Location: Madama village / south Nablus.

Date: January 12^th 2025.

Perpetrator: The Israeli Occupation forces.

Victims: Two farmers family from the village.

Description:

Sunday afternoon, January 12 2025, The Israeli Occupation bulldozers ravaged and destroyed a plot with a total area of two dunums, the attack left 15 trees aging 50 years old uproots, the targeted land belongs to Ibrahim Ziyada and Mahira Al-Qatt.

The targeted lands is located at “Al-‘Aqab” area , south the village , and it is on a hell nearby bypass 60 which links Yitzhar to other Israeli colonies at the area.

On the other hand, Madama village council head ‘Abdullah Ziadeh said:

“Sunday, the occupation forces ravaged an agricultural land and uprooted 15 ancient olive trees, the occupation claims that the reason of the ravaging is to make the area more visible and prohibit danger of firing bullets towards the bypass road, according to the occupation’s claims.”

Noteworthy, the Israeli Occupation Forces commander in the West Bank, named "Yaki Dolf," issued an urgent military order in December last year, numbered (24/12/Urgent and Immediate), which includes targeting 2400 meters of land in the village of Madma, specifically within the "Al-Aqab" area, through what is referred to as tree pruning in that region, citing security reasons according to the occupation's description, what happened today is the actual implementation of this military order.

The targeted trees belong to:

  According to reports and field observation; Madama village south of Nablus have witnessed repeated assaults on both farmers and olive trees over the past years, dozens of olive trees have been targeted, either by burning, cutting, or even spraying with toxic substances, with the aim of damaging them. In addition, there have been frequent road closures carried out by the occupation army, which have been a reason for a lot of the suffering Palestinians in the West Bank have to endure on daily basis, this suffering has been clearly manifested in turning the village into a devastated and besieged one, surrounded by settlement projects that continue to consume the land there day by day.

Madama Village:

Madama village is located 12 km southwest Nablus city, It is bordered by Iraq Burin and Tell to the north, and by Asira al-Qibliya to the west, Burin to the east, and Urif to the south. As of 2017, the village had a population of 2,092 residents. The total area of the village is 3,824 dunams, of which 190 dunams constitute the built-up area. The Israeli occupation has confiscated 118 dunams of its land to build and expand "Yitzhar" settlement, which was established in 1983 and contains about 400 settlers, according to the Oslo Accords, the village's lands are classified as Area "B" (2,509 dunams) and Area "C" (1,314 dunams).

Assault on Trees: Israeli Environmental Violations in Palestine:

Israeli occupation forces and settlers’ attacks on trees in Palestine is increasing, according to reports by field research team at Land Research Center, in 2024, the occupation targeted over 59,500 trees and seedlings, which is the highest number in the past 10 year, 90% of these trees were completely destroyed, indicating a real environmental catastrophe. Targeting trees, whether through cutting, burning, or poisoning, results in a decrease in the number of trees, which in turn reduces the vegetative cover that supplies the region with large quantities of oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. Additionally, targeting trees makes it difficult for animals to find shelter and food, which threats of the extinction of some species due to the destruction of their natural habitat, which harms biodiversity.

Photos of the targeted trees