Violation: torching 100 trees

Location: ‘Asira al Qibliya.

Date: July 17 -2018.

Perpetrators: Yizhar illegal colonists

Victims: number of farmers form the village

Description:

A group of fanatic colonists from Yizhar on July17, 2018 attacked ‘Asira al Qibliya village and opened fire towards villagers’ homes in the town, affected villagers crowded to protect their homes, the Israeli occupation army stepped in to protect settlers while they were attacking cars and setting fire in Palestinian house gardens, It should be marked that the Israeli occupation army did not do anything to stop radical settlers from assaulting Palestinian houses, cars and gardens.

Saleh H Saleh , head of ‘Asira al Qibliya rural council told LRC observer:

“Colonists attacked villagers’ homes at 1:00pm, The Israeli occupation army showed up not to stop them but to protect them , they closed the eastern side and stopped villagers from reaching the area while the colonists smashed 3 cars belong to villagers in the town”

Radical colonists smashed 3 cars belong to:

• Majdi Ibrahim Makhlouf (Golf 2000)
• Anis Abdul-Basit (Golf 2002)
• Mohammad Yehia Saleh (Hundai 2005)
• Bullet hit a water tank belong to villager Sharif Abdullah.

Saleh H Saleh , head of ‘Asira al Qibliya rural council also said:

“In their way out of the town, same colonists group set fire to the towns trees, leaving 6 dunums burnt down and leaving 100 trees dead, 80 of them are olive trees, It should be marked that the attacked trees belong to Jabr Yasin (50 olive trees) and Mohammad Hamdan (30 olive trees) Abdullah Khalaf (10 fig trees), Mahmoud A Mahmoud (10 vine trees), according to the rural council financial losses reached 10,000$.

General Information about ‘Asira al Qibliya[1]:

‘Asira al Qibliyais located 12 km south of Nablus city; it is surrounded by the villages of Fer’ata, Tell, Jamma’in, and ‘Urif. Its total area is about 14 ^km2, 3 ^km2 were confiscated and used for the enlargement of Yizhar. Moreover, there are 2 ^km2 that are considered a military zone and the locals are not allowed to reach.

The residential area in the village is about 0.2 ^km2 and the rest is agricultural lands (60% olive trees, 40% grains). ‘Asira al Qibliya population is estimated to be 2935 people in 2017 census.

According to Oslo convention the land is divided to B areas (4,503) dunums and C areas (1,937) dunums.

About “Yizhar” illegal colony:

It was established in 1983 with a total built-up area of 788 dunums. The colony populates 440 colonists and is founded on confiscated lands from the Palestinian villages of Burin, Huwwara, Einabus, Urif, Asira Al-Qibliya and Madama.

[1] GIS - LRC

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