NABLUS, Israeli bulldozers today leveled a tract of Palestinian land in as-Sawiya village, south of Nablus, according to a local activist.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors colonial settlement activities in the northern West Bank, said that Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer to Khallet Hammud area and razed a tract of farmland belonging to the villagers of as-Sawiya.

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers from the illegal colonial settlement of Rahalim broke into Palestinian-owned groves in the village and stole the olive harvest of Mahmoud Shaheen before fleeing the scene.

Daghlas cautioned that there has been an uptick in the land grab in the southern Nablus countryside to make room for the construction of settler-only bypass roads and colonial settlements.

The village has been a scene of frequent settler attacks, including chopping down dozens of olive trees on several occasions, as it is the case with other Palestinian villages and towns in Nablus and Salfit districts, which have the largest concentration of colonial settlements.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

Settler violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.

There are over 800,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency