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Israeli bulldozers smash Palestinian olive trees ahead of annual harvest
Reuters • • world
Key Points:
- Israeli military bulldozers uprooted olive trees belonging to Palestinian villagers near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank just days before the annual olive harvest, causing significant distress among local farmers.
- Abd Alfattah Tamimi and his neighbors lost nearly 9 acres of olive groves, with trees destroyed including newly planted ones, effectively depriving them of their livelihoods.
- The Israeli military has not provided a comment on this specific incident but has previously justified such actions as necessary for security reasons, a claim rejected by Palestinian human rights groups.
- Olive farming is a vital part of Palestinian agriculture, contributing around 8% to GDP and supporting over 60,000 jobs, making the destruction of trees a major economic and symbolic blow.
- The upcoming olive harvest is expected to be particularly tense amid a surge in Israeli settler violence and attacks on Palestinian lands and resources.
