Israeli destruction in al-Mughayyir close to Ramallah is a part of push to forcibly displace Palestinians, researcher says.
The Israeli navy has destroyed about 3,000 olive timber in a village close to Ramallah within the occupied West Financial institution, the top of the native council says, as Palestinians face a continued wave of violence throughout the territory within the shadow of Israel’s struggle on Gaza.
The Israeli navy issued an order on Saturday to uproot olive timber in a 0.27sq-km (0.1sq-mile) space in al-Mughayyir, a village of about 4,000 residents northeast of Ramallah.
The military justified the measure by saying the timber posed a “safety menace” to a essential Israeli settlement street that runs by way of the village’s lands.
The destruction was carried out as al-Mughayyir has been below lockdown since Thursday after an Israeli settler stated he was shot at within the space.
The deputy head of the village council, Marzouq Abu Naim, instructed Palestinian information company Wafa that Israeli troopers had stormed greater than 30 properties since daybreak on Saturday, destroying residents’ property and automobiles.
For many years, the Israeli navy has uprooted olive timber – an essential Palestinian cultural image – throughout the occupied Palestinian territory as a part of the nation’s efforts to grab Palestinian land and forcibly displace residents.
The West Financial institution additionally has seen a surge in Israeli navy and settler violence since Israel launched its struggle on Gaza in October 2023, and tens of 1000’s of Palestinians have been pressured out of their properties.
Greater than 2,370 Israeli settler assaults in opposition to Palestinians have been reported throughout the world from January 2024 to the top of July this yr, in response to the newest figures from the United Nations Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The best variety of assaults – 585 – was recorded within the Ramallah space, adopted by 479 within the Nablus area within the northern West Financial institution.
At the very least 671 Palestinians, together with 129 youngsters, even have been killed by Israeli forces and Israeli settlers throughout the West Financial institution in that very same time interval, OCHA stated.
The Israeli navy didn’t instantly reply to Al Jazeera’s request for touch upon Saturday on the uprooting of the olive timber in al-Mughayyir.
Hamza Zubeidat, a Palestinian researcher, stated the destruction is a part of Israel’s “steady” effort to drive Palestinians off their lands.
“We now have to be clear that since 1967, Israel continues to be implementing the identical plan of evicting the Palestinian inhabitants from the countryside and the cities of the West Financial institution. What’s happening proper now could be only a steady technique of this eviction of Palestinians. It’s not a brand new Israeli course of,” Zubeidat instructed Al Jazeera.
He famous that al-Mughayyir has an extended agricultural historical past and, like different villages within the West Financial institution, depends nearly totally on agriculture and livestock as its essential supply of revenue.
“This space the place greater than 3,000 olive timber [were] uprooted is without doubt one of the most fertile areas on this a part of the Ramallah space,” Zubeidat defined.
“Uprooting timber, confiscated water springs, blocking and stopping Palestinians from accessing their farms and water sources means extra meals and water insecurity.”
