Olive Trees destroyed in Jaba’a
The random destruction of olive groves by the Israeli Occupation Forces in the West Bank continues. Last Tuesday, February 22nd 2011 Izzat Abu latifa, a farmer from Jab’a near Bethlehem was among the latest group of Palestinian farmers to suffer the loss of olive trees destroyed by the Israelis. Around 7am, the Israelis came to the field adjacent to the Israeli bypass road 367. They started cutting down the trees with chainsaws and then poisoned the roots. When Izzat was told that Israelis were on his land, he hurried to the scene to find nearly 150 olive trees cut down and piled up under the supervision of the military contingent. They told him that the trees were being uprooted because they were planted on Israeli state land. However the field is located just outside of the residential area of Jab’a and it is in the Occupied West Bank and not in Israel. Izzat proved his ownership by showing the Israeli commander his land title.
Izzat told members of the Joint Advocacy Initiative “when I saw them cutting down the trees I felt as if my heart was being uprooted from between my lungs” He added that he had been growing olives on his land for 40 years.