SALFIT, Israeli settlers today chopped olive trees belonging to the villagers of Bruqin town, west of Salfit, according to a local sources.

Hakam Abdul-Rahman, a farmer from the town, said that a group of settlers sneaked their way into his olive grove in Ash-Shayyab area, north of the town, and cut some 10 olive trees.

The vandals came from the nearby colonial settlement of Brukhin.

The village has been a frequent target of settler and military attacks, including setting fire to olive groves and villagers houses, razing cultivated land and attacking villagers on picnic, with the ultimate purpose of displacing them and taking over their land to make room for colonial settlement construction.

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 700,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency