Israel uproots 8,000 trees in West Bank in one week, causing $7m in losses

Israel uprooted and bulldozed more than 8,000 trees, most of them olive trees, in the West Bank in just one week, according to documentation released by the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday. The ministry estimated the financial losses at around $7 million. The ministry said Israeli army forces and settlers carried out the attacks as part of an intensifying escalation that directly targeted the agricultural sector and sources of food security in Palestinian areas. It described the situation as a “dangerous and rapidly increasing” escalation, noting that the attacks took place during the third week of December and were part of what it called a systematic policy aimed at seizing land and removing its original residents. According to the […]