Far’ata, Qalqiliyah District: Settlers harvest Palestinian grove, cut down trees and start building structure

One of the trees cut down by the settlers. Photo courtesy of the landowner

On 11 October 2021, village resident Ibrahim Salah (68) discovered that settlers had harvested about 50 olive trees and cut down five more trees on his land. Salah’s grove contains some 250 trees, and since the Havat Gilad outpost was established next to it, he and his family members have been allowed to come to the land only twice a year, subject to coordination with the military. Salah reported the damage to the Palestinian DCO and representatives of the Israeli DCO came to the scene. When Salah inspected the land with the DCO officials, they found that the settlers also started building a structure on his land and had dug a pit there.



Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.