28 june 2016
Water has been cut to Palestinian and Israeli towns and villages all across the West Bank, sparking an uproar amongst the population; Palestinian officials blame the Israelis for cutting off their water, while Israeli officials blame poor Palestinian management of water infrastructure.
As Palestinians in the West Bank fast from dawn to dusk in scorching heat during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, tens of thousands of people have been affected by a drought that has greatly reduced the flow to their taps.
Israel admits it's been forced to cut water supplies to the parched area, saying that nearby Jewish settlements have also been affected. But Palestinian areas appear to have been hit much harder, and both sides are blaming each other.
The water shortage has harmed farmers, forced people to bathe less and created a booming business for tanker trucks that deliver water.
Israel blames it on the unusually early summer heat and the Palestinians' refusal to cooperate with Israel on renovating their leaky pipe system. Palestinians say the shortage is evidence of the uneven distribution of water from an underground aquifer — which was enshrined in an outdated peace agreement.
Israel Water Authority spokesman Uri Schor said Israel sells the Palestinians 64 million cubic meters of water each year, double the amount stipulated in the 1995 accords. He said that to protect the groundwater, Israel has reduced supplies to both Palestinian and Israeli communities in the West Bank, without providing exact figures.
Schor accused the Palestinians of refusing to convene the Joint Water Committee, a body established by the Oslo Accords to manage the shared water resources. Without the committee, Schor says, it's impossible to approve repairs to infrastructure — and damaged pipes can drain away up to a third of supplies.
"The Palestinians are taking advantage of this to say Israel is taking our water," he said. "This is rubbish. The area has a problem and this can be solved by upgrading all the infrastructure, but the Palestinians veto this."
Water shortages have hit Israeli settlements as well, although to a lesser degree.
Esther Allouch, spokeswoman for the Samaria Regional Council, a group of settlements in the northern West Bank, said the hilltop settlement of Tapuah, with a population of 1,000, had a three-day shortage recently and also needed to bring in water tankers, which her council pays for.
Over the weekend, nearly all the 20,000 residents of the Israeli city of Ariel in the West Bank experienced a half-hour water interruption. Allouch said settlements are suspending irrigation of farmland and reducing their use of dishwashers and showers.
"For years we have been saying that the infrastructure in Judea and Samaria is not sufficient," she said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.
Some Palestinian villages in the West Bank and some isolated Israeli settlements are not connected to the national water grid, relying instead on local underground supplies.
Israeli environmental advocate Gidon Bromberg says the water shortage is "outrageous."
"The fact there is excess water in Israel means for very first time, the natural water can be shared at low cost to Israel and high gain to Palestinians and Israelis together," said Bromberg, the director of EcoPeace Middle East, a group that promotes region-wide environmental cooperation.
In Salem, a village of 7,000 people in the northern West Bank, Israel has slowed the water flow by two-thirds for a month now, said local water engineer Wahed Hamdan. What remains is further diminished by a leaky pipe system installed in 1982, he said.
To cope with the diminished flow, Salem has instituted a rotation regime between neighborhoods, Hamdan said. Residents use pumps to bring the trickle to storage tanks on their roofs but the weak stream cannot reach homes on the outskirts of the village.
When the water runs out, Mohammed Fahmi, 22, does a brisk trade supplying the village homes via 800-gallon (3,000-liter) tankers, which he delivers for about $20 per truck — which can quadruple a family's monthly water bill.
The water comes from wells drilled by the Palestinian Authority. But there's often not enough for everyone. "Some people wait two days until I can deliver," Fahmi said.
Suleiman Hasan, a driver from Salem, said he is showering less to save water. His garden has dried up, and his olive tree has turned yellow.
By contrast, in the West Bank's political center of Ramallah, water is delivered twice a week, and the pressure is high enough to reach rooftop storage tanks without extra pumping. Usually, supplies last until the next delivery.
Under interim peace accords signed in 1995, Israel controls 80 percent of the aquifer while the Palestinian Authority is allocated 20 percent. Israel also draws water from the Sea of Galilee and from desalinization, sources that are not available to the Palestinians. Israel is required by the peace accords to sell additional water to the Palestinians.
The Oslo Accords, which divided up the natural water resources, were intended to last for five years, pending a final peace agreement. But they remain in effect after two decades of failed peace efforts.
Palestinian Water Authority director Mazen Ghoneim said the joint committee has not met in five years because Israelis use it to force Palestinians to approve water projects for Israeli settlements, which the Palestinians and most of the international community consider illegal.
Ghoneim demanded a renegotiation of the 80-20 ratio of water sharing in the West Bank and alleged that the Palestinian share has actually declined due to the increased population and worsening leakage. He said villages and cities that are home to some 120,000 Palestinians have been affected.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders have not been willing to renegotiate water access without a larger peace deal — which seems highly unlikely, at least in the near future.
In the meantime, foreign governments have attempted to help the Palestinians improve their water network. Since 2000, the American government's USAID has spent tens of millions of dollars upgrading some 600 miles of pipelines, mostly in the West Bank.
As Palestinians in the West Bank fast from dawn to dusk in scorching heat during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, tens of thousands of people have been affected by a drought that has greatly reduced the flow to their taps.
Israel admits it's been forced to cut water supplies to the parched area, saying that nearby Jewish settlements have also been affected. But Palestinian areas appear to have been hit much harder, and both sides are blaming each other.
The water shortage has harmed farmers, forced people to bathe less and created a booming business for tanker trucks that deliver water.
Israel blames it on the unusually early summer heat and the Palestinians' refusal to cooperate with Israel on renovating their leaky pipe system. Palestinians say the shortage is evidence of the uneven distribution of water from an underground aquifer — which was enshrined in an outdated peace agreement.
Israel Water Authority spokesman Uri Schor said Israel sells the Palestinians 64 million cubic meters of water each year, double the amount stipulated in the 1995 accords. He said that to protect the groundwater, Israel has reduced supplies to both Palestinian and Israeli communities in the West Bank, without providing exact figures.
Schor accused the Palestinians of refusing to convene the Joint Water Committee, a body established by the Oslo Accords to manage the shared water resources. Without the committee, Schor says, it's impossible to approve repairs to infrastructure — and damaged pipes can drain away up to a third of supplies.
"The Palestinians are taking advantage of this to say Israel is taking our water," he said. "This is rubbish. The area has a problem and this can be solved by upgrading all the infrastructure, but the Palestinians veto this."
Water shortages have hit Israeli settlements as well, although to a lesser degree.
Esther Allouch, spokeswoman for the Samaria Regional Council, a group of settlements in the northern West Bank, said the hilltop settlement of Tapuah, with a population of 1,000, had a three-day shortage recently and also needed to bring in water tankers, which her council pays for.
Over the weekend, nearly all the 20,000 residents of the Israeli city of Ariel in the West Bank experienced a half-hour water interruption. Allouch said settlements are suspending irrigation of farmland and reducing their use of dishwashers and showers.
"For years we have been saying that the infrastructure in Judea and Samaria is not sufficient," she said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.
Some Palestinian villages in the West Bank and some isolated Israeli settlements are not connected to the national water grid, relying instead on local underground supplies.
Israeli environmental advocate Gidon Bromberg says the water shortage is "outrageous."
"The fact there is excess water in Israel means for very first time, the natural water can be shared at low cost to Israel and high gain to Palestinians and Israelis together," said Bromberg, the director of EcoPeace Middle East, a group that promotes region-wide environmental cooperation.
In Salem, a village of 7,000 people in the northern West Bank, Israel has slowed the water flow by two-thirds for a month now, said local water engineer Wahed Hamdan. What remains is further diminished by a leaky pipe system installed in 1982, he said.
To cope with the diminished flow, Salem has instituted a rotation regime between neighborhoods, Hamdan said. Residents use pumps to bring the trickle to storage tanks on their roofs but the weak stream cannot reach homes on the outskirts of the village.
When the water runs out, Mohammed Fahmi, 22, does a brisk trade supplying the village homes via 800-gallon (3,000-liter) tankers, which he delivers for about $20 per truck — which can quadruple a family's monthly water bill.
The water comes from wells drilled by the Palestinian Authority. But there's often not enough for everyone. "Some people wait two days until I can deliver," Fahmi said.
Suleiman Hasan, a driver from Salem, said he is showering less to save water. His garden has dried up, and his olive tree has turned yellow.
By contrast, in the West Bank's political center of Ramallah, water is delivered twice a week, and the pressure is high enough to reach rooftop storage tanks without extra pumping. Usually, supplies last until the next delivery.
Under interim peace accords signed in 1995, Israel controls 80 percent of the aquifer while the Palestinian Authority is allocated 20 percent. Israel also draws water from the Sea of Galilee and from desalinization, sources that are not available to the Palestinians. Israel is required by the peace accords to sell additional water to the Palestinians.
The Oslo Accords, which divided up the natural water resources, were intended to last for five years, pending a final peace agreement. But they remain in effect after two decades of failed peace efforts.
Palestinian Water Authority director Mazen Ghoneim said the joint committee has not met in five years because Israelis use it to force Palestinians to approve water projects for Israeli settlements, which the Palestinians and most of the international community consider illegal.
Ghoneim demanded a renegotiation of the 80-20 ratio of water sharing in the West Bank and alleged that the Palestinian share has actually declined due to the increased population and worsening leakage. He said villages and cities that are home to some 120,000 Palestinians have been affected.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders have not been willing to renegotiate water access without a larger peace deal — which seems highly unlikely, at least in the near future.
In the meantime, foreign governments have attempted to help the Palestinians improve their water network. Since 2000, the American government's USAID has spent tens of millions of dollars upgrading some 600 miles of pipelines, mostly in the West Bank.
Israeli forces, Tuesday, reportedly opened fire at Palestinian farmers in the eastern part of al-Qarrara, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Witnesses said Israeli forces deployed at the eastern borders of al-Qarrara opened “heavy” fire at farmers in the area.
No injuries were reported, according to Ma’an.
An Israeli army spokesperson said she was “looking into reports”.
On a near-daily basis, the Israeli army fires “warning shots” at Palestinian fishermen, farmers, and shepherds entering the Israeli-enforced “buffer zone” on land and sea, implemented after Israel imposed a blockade on the region a decade ago.
Due to the high frequency of the attacks, live fire often goes unreported.
While Israel typically cites security concerns when targeting Palestinian agricultural areas, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) has reported, in the past, that fishermen were often targeted when they posed no threat.
Approximately 35 percent of Palestinian agricultural land in Gaza is inaccessible without high personal risk, according to the center.
Witnesses said Israeli forces deployed at the eastern borders of al-Qarrara opened “heavy” fire at farmers in the area.
No injuries were reported, according to Ma’an.
An Israeli army spokesperson said she was “looking into reports”.
On a near-daily basis, the Israeli army fires “warning shots” at Palestinian fishermen, farmers, and shepherds entering the Israeli-enforced “buffer zone” on land and sea, implemented after Israel imposed a blockade on the region a decade ago.
Due to the high frequency of the attacks, live fire often goes unreported.
While Israel typically cites security concerns when targeting Palestinian agricultural areas, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) has reported, in the past, that fishermen were often targeted when they posed no threat.
Approximately 35 percent of Palestinian agricultural land in Gaza is inaccessible without high personal risk, according to the center.
27 june 2016
Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, sent a letter to senior Israeli government, military and water officials demanding that they cease cutting the water supply to Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank.
“In violation of int’l treaties, Israel has cut water supply up to 70%, leaving homes with no running water and causing factory shutdowns, severe damage to agriculture, deaths of livestock,” said the center.
According to media reports and calls to Adalah, from West Bank residents, Mekorot, the Israeli water company, has significantly reduced the amount of water it is supplying to West Bank Palestinians, since early June 2016. These water cutbacks are expected to continue throughout the summer.
According to reports, WAFA informs, the Israeli state notified the Palestinian water authority that, starting in June, the supply of water piped to the West Bank would be cut from previous levels by some 50 to 70 percent.
This cutback has intensified an already existing water shortage faced by Palestinian residents across the West Bank that results from Israeli control over fresh water sources.
In her letter to Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Major General Yoav Mordechai, and Mekorot national water company CEO Shimon Ben Hamo, Adalah lawyer Muna Haddad detailed the serious repercussions of water cutbacks to West Bank residents.
“The reduction in water amounts and pressure prevents the filling of holding reservoirs in the Palestinian communities. As a result, in some of the communities, including the villages of Salfit, Azmut, Salem and Dir Al-Hatab in the northern West Bank, water flow to residential homes has been almost completely cut for more than two weeks.
“The cuts have also caused factory shutdowns, damage to gardens and agricultural lands, and the deaths of livestock due to dehydration. The situation, exacerbated by a period of heavy heat over the past several weeks and that is expected to continue through the summer months, is causing significant harm to West Bank residents,” Attorney Haddad wrote.
Adalah’s letter, sent on 23 June 2016, also highlighted the dramatic difference in access/supply of water to Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Israeli Jewish settlers.
“Even before this decision, [to cut the water supply to the West Bank] which does not apply to Israeli Jewish settlements, the water access gap between Palestinian residents and Jewish settlers in the West Bank was enormous.”
The center noted that, “Palestinian residents, for example, are provided with an average of 70 liters of water a day while the minimal average daily water consumption recommended by the World Health Organization set at 100 liters. Israeli Jewish settlers in the West Bank, on the other hand, have access to more than 300 liters per person per day.”
In the letter, Adalah also noted that the cuts in water supply to Palestinian residents of the West Bank violate international conventions ratified by Israel including: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which determines the right to an adequate standard of living, and specifically details the right to food and the basic needs of human existence – including the right to water; Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child likewise determines that signatory states are obligated to provide clean drinking water; Articles 47 of the Hague Convention and 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention forbid pillaging which, in this case, would apply to Israel’s practice of transferring West Bank water resources from Palestinian residents to Israeli Jewish settlers.
“Given these severe violations of basic human rights guaranteed by international law, Adalah demands that COGAT, the Infrastructure Minister, and Mekorot immediately halt cuts in the water supply to Palestinian residents of the West Bank.”
“In violation of int’l treaties, Israel has cut water supply up to 70%, leaving homes with no running water and causing factory shutdowns, severe damage to agriculture, deaths of livestock,” said the center.
According to media reports and calls to Adalah, from West Bank residents, Mekorot, the Israeli water company, has significantly reduced the amount of water it is supplying to West Bank Palestinians, since early June 2016. These water cutbacks are expected to continue throughout the summer.
According to reports, WAFA informs, the Israeli state notified the Palestinian water authority that, starting in June, the supply of water piped to the West Bank would be cut from previous levels by some 50 to 70 percent.
This cutback has intensified an already existing water shortage faced by Palestinian residents across the West Bank that results from Israeli control over fresh water sources.
In her letter to Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Major General Yoav Mordechai, and Mekorot national water company CEO Shimon Ben Hamo, Adalah lawyer Muna Haddad detailed the serious repercussions of water cutbacks to West Bank residents.
“The reduction in water amounts and pressure prevents the filling of holding reservoirs in the Palestinian communities. As a result, in some of the communities, including the villages of Salfit, Azmut, Salem and Dir Al-Hatab in the northern West Bank, water flow to residential homes has been almost completely cut for more than two weeks.
“The cuts have also caused factory shutdowns, damage to gardens and agricultural lands, and the deaths of livestock due to dehydration. The situation, exacerbated by a period of heavy heat over the past several weeks and that is expected to continue through the summer months, is causing significant harm to West Bank residents,” Attorney Haddad wrote.
Adalah’s letter, sent on 23 June 2016, also highlighted the dramatic difference in access/supply of water to Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Israeli Jewish settlers.
“Even before this decision, [to cut the water supply to the West Bank] which does not apply to Israeli Jewish settlements, the water access gap between Palestinian residents and Jewish settlers in the West Bank was enormous.”
The center noted that, “Palestinian residents, for example, are provided with an average of 70 liters of water a day while the minimal average daily water consumption recommended by the World Health Organization set at 100 liters. Israeli Jewish settlers in the West Bank, on the other hand, have access to more than 300 liters per person per day.”
In the letter, Adalah also noted that the cuts in water supply to Palestinian residents of the West Bank violate international conventions ratified by Israel including: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which determines the right to an adequate standard of living, and specifically details the right to food and the basic needs of human existence – including the right to water; Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child likewise determines that signatory states are obligated to provide clean drinking water; Articles 47 of the Hague Convention and 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention forbid pillaging which, in this case, would apply to Israel’s practice of transferring West Bank water resources from Palestinian residents to Israeli Jewish settlers.
“Given these severe violations of basic human rights guaranteed by international law, Adalah demands that COGAT, the Infrastructure Minister, and Mekorot immediately halt cuts in the water supply to Palestinian residents of the West Bank.”
26 june 2016
A temporary extension imposed by Israeli authorities, on the designated fishing zone off the coast of the Gaza Strip, expired on Sunday, reducing the zone to six nautical miles after it had been set to nine miles, for one week.
Head of Gaza’s fishermen union Nizar Ayyash told Ma’an News Agency that Israeli authorities, at midnight, confirmed to the union via the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture that the zone would be reduced.
“A nine-mile zone is already a narrow fishing zone, so can you imagine the challenge when we are forced to sail within six miles,” Ayyash said, adding that fish were abundant only after the nine-mile point from the shore.
Some fishermen said that reducing the fishing zone from nine to six miles would allow only 30 percent of fishermen to go on fishing trips because the area was too narrow for all Gaza fishermen.
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories COGAT released a statement, last Monday, leading up to the extension, saying that it had been made “on the occasion of Ramadan, and due to abundance of fish this season.”
“We hope that fishermen respect understandings and agreements and do not violate the available fishing area, and to take advantage of this step to benefit the people of Gaza,” the statement added.
Furthermore, Zakariyya Abu Bakr, the head of the Union of Agricultural Workers Committees slammed, on Sunday, Israel’s treatment of fishermen in the Gaza Strip.
“The (Israeli) occupation created a big fuss when they extending the zone to nine nautical miles for the fishermen, though Israeli assaults against fishermen have only increased during that period.”
Israeli gunboats opened fire at Palestinian fishermen on at least one occasion, over the past week, though due the high frequency of such incidents, live fire on fishing boats often go unreported. According to UN documentation, Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinians in Gaza’s border areas on land and sea on at least 22 occasions, between June 14 and 20.
As part of Israel’s blockade off the coastal enclave since 2007, Palestinian fishermen have been required to work within a limited “designated fishing zone.”
The exact limits of the zone are decided by the Israeli authorities and have historically fluctuated, most recently extended to six nautical miles from three, following a ceasefire agreement that ended Israel’s 2014 offensive on the Palestinian territory.
However, the fishing zone was technically set to 20 nautical miles according to the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the PA in the early 1990s.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has reported that Israeli naval forces often open fire on fishermen within these limits, putting their lives in danger on a near-daily basis.
Last year, Israeli naval forces opened fire on Palestinian fishermen at least 139 times, killing three, wounding dozens, and damaging at least 16 fishing boats.
The Israeli army often says, in such circumstances, that the use of live fire is necessary to deter potential “security threats,” a policy which has, in effect, destroyed much of the agricultural and fishing sectors of the impoverished coastal Palestinian territory, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007.
Head of Gaza’s fishermen union Nizar Ayyash told Ma’an News Agency that Israeli authorities, at midnight, confirmed to the union via the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture that the zone would be reduced.
“A nine-mile zone is already a narrow fishing zone, so can you imagine the challenge when we are forced to sail within six miles,” Ayyash said, adding that fish were abundant only after the nine-mile point from the shore.
Some fishermen said that reducing the fishing zone from nine to six miles would allow only 30 percent of fishermen to go on fishing trips because the area was too narrow for all Gaza fishermen.
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories COGAT released a statement, last Monday, leading up to the extension, saying that it had been made “on the occasion of Ramadan, and due to abundance of fish this season.”
“We hope that fishermen respect understandings and agreements and do not violate the available fishing area, and to take advantage of this step to benefit the people of Gaza,” the statement added.
Furthermore, Zakariyya Abu Bakr, the head of the Union of Agricultural Workers Committees slammed, on Sunday, Israel’s treatment of fishermen in the Gaza Strip.
“The (Israeli) occupation created a big fuss when they extending the zone to nine nautical miles for the fishermen, though Israeli assaults against fishermen have only increased during that period.”
Israeli gunboats opened fire at Palestinian fishermen on at least one occasion, over the past week, though due the high frequency of such incidents, live fire on fishing boats often go unreported. According to UN documentation, Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinians in Gaza’s border areas on land and sea on at least 22 occasions, between June 14 and 20.
As part of Israel’s blockade off the coastal enclave since 2007, Palestinian fishermen have been required to work within a limited “designated fishing zone.”
The exact limits of the zone are decided by the Israeli authorities and have historically fluctuated, most recently extended to six nautical miles from three, following a ceasefire agreement that ended Israel’s 2014 offensive on the Palestinian territory.
However, the fishing zone was technically set to 20 nautical miles according to the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the PA in the early 1990s.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has reported that Israeli naval forces often open fire on fishermen within these limits, putting their lives in danger on a near-daily basis.
Last year, Israeli naval forces opened fire on Palestinian fishermen at least 139 times, killing three, wounding dozens, and damaging at least 16 fishing boats.
The Israeli army often says, in such circumstances, that the use of live fire is necessary to deter potential “security threats,” a policy which has, in effect, destroyed much of the agricultural and fishing sectors of the impoverished coastal Palestinian territory, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007.
25 june 2016
The European Union has agreed to provide nearly €154,000 to support West Bank farmers and agricultural businesses directly affected by Israeli occupation, a press release issued by the Office of the European Union Representative in Jerusalem stated .
The release noted, according to WAFA, that this EU contribution, the first to the Palestinian Authority’s Programme “Assistance to Agriculture in the West Bank (AAWB), is being channeled through PEGASE.
“The eligible beneficiaries are farmers and agro-businesses, in the West Bank, directly affected by Israeli Occupation,” noted the EU.
It said that this contribution will help the farmers to restart, repair or replace their damaged businesses through different activities including acquisition of agricultural supplies, rehabilitation of land and other small infrastructure works.
The contribution represents the pre-financing tranche of EU’s financial commitment towards 19 eligible beneficiaries in Burin village, in the Nablus Governorate, the release added.
The overall financial envelope of the Assistance to Agriculture in the West Bank (AAWB) programme amounts to EUR 7.0 million and is expected to serve about 360 eligible beneficiaries in the occupied West Bank.
The programme is managed by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Agriculture. The payments are made by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Finance and Planning, through a network of local banks in the West Bank.
The release noted, according to WAFA, that this EU contribution, the first to the Palestinian Authority’s Programme “Assistance to Agriculture in the West Bank (AAWB), is being channeled through PEGASE.
“The eligible beneficiaries are farmers and agro-businesses, in the West Bank, directly affected by Israeli Occupation,” noted the EU.
It said that this contribution will help the farmers to restart, repair or replace their damaged businesses through different activities including acquisition of agricultural supplies, rehabilitation of land and other small infrastructure works.
The contribution represents the pre-financing tranche of EU’s financial commitment towards 19 eligible beneficiaries in Burin village, in the Nablus Governorate, the release added.
The overall financial envelope of the Assistance to Agriculture in the West Bank (AAWB) programme amounts to EUR 7.0 million and is expected to serve about 360 eligible beneficiaries in the occupied West Bank.
The programme is managed by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Agriculture. The payments are made by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Finance and Planning, through a network of local banks in the West Bank.
24 june 2016
Israeli soldiers invaded, late on Thursday evening, Doha town, west of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and shot a young Palestinian man, during clashes that took place following the invasion.
Medical sources said a young man, 21, was shot with a live round in his leg, and was moved to a local hospital, suffering a moderate injury.
The soldiers fired many live rounds, gas bombs and concussion grenades, causing fires in many trees and farmlands, before Palestinian firefighters, and Civil Defense teams, rushed to the site and extinguished the fires.
Medical sources said a young man, 21, was shot with a live round in his leg, and was moved to a local hospital, suffering a moderate injury.
The soldiers fired many live rounds, gas bombs and concussion grenades, causing fires in many trees and farmlands, before Palestinian firefighters, and Civil Defense teams, rushed to the site and extinguished the fires.
23 june 2016
A group of Israeli settlers set fire Thursday evening to dozens of dunums of Palestinian-owned agricultural lands planted with olive trees near the Qablan junction, south of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank.
Eyewitnesses told a PIC reporter that several settlers from the Israeli settlement of Rachalim illegally built on Palestinian lands near al-Sawiya village set fire to dozens of dunums of farmlands.
Large parts of the surrounding area quickly caught fire due to the heat, causing dozens more olive and other trees to burn, the sources added.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there has been a total of 49 reported settler attacks against Palestinians and their properties in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem since the start of 2016, and a total of 221 attacks in 2015.
Eyewitnesses told a PIC reporter that several settlers from the Israeli settlement of Rachalim illegally built on Palestinian lands near al-Sawiya village set fire to dozens of dunums of farmlands.
Large parts of the surrounding area quickly caught fire due to the heat, causing dozens more olive and other trees to burn, the sources added.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there has been a total of 49 reported settler attacks against Palestinians and their properties in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem since the start of 2016, and a total of 221 attacks in 2015.
22 june 2016
Israeli settlers set fire Tuesday evening to dozens of olive trees in Palestinian agricultural land near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
A local agricultural committee affirmed that a group of settlers torched 100 acres planted with dozens of olive trees and wheat.
The attack came only ten days after a similar incident in the same area, the committee pointed out. 120 olive trees were completely burned during the attack.
Palestinian towns and villages in occupied West Bank are surrounded by Israeli settlements and outposts, many of which are protected by the Israeli military and have gained notoriety for being comprised of the most extremist settlers.
While Israeli forces will detain a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank for possessing a knife or gun, Israelis living in the same area are legally able to carry such weapons.
Rights groups have criticized Israel for implementing different legal systems for Palestinians and Israeli settlers living in the same area. Such practices, they say, protect the expansion of settlements while systematically eliminating the ability for Palestinians to move freely throughout their occupied territory.
A local agricultural committee affirmed that a group of settlers torched 100 acres planted with dozens of olive trees and wheat.
The attack came only ten days after a similar incident in the same area, the committee pointed out. 120 olive trees were completely burned during the attack.
Palestinian towns and villages in occupied West Bank are surrounded by Israeli settlements and outposts, many of which are protected by the Israeli military and have gained notoriety for being comprised of the most extremist settlers.
While Israeli forces will detain a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank for possessing a knife or gun, Israelis living in the same area are legally able to carry such weapons.
Rights groups have criticized Israel for implementing different legal systems for Palestinians and Israeli settlers living in the same area. Such practices, they say, protect the expansion of settlements while systematically eliminating the ability for Palestinians to move freely throughout their occupied territory.