Posted on 11/27/2005 12:27:01 PM PST by Alouette
NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - Jewish settlers cut down and uprooted hundreds of olive trees on Palestinian farms near the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, residents and Israeli police said.
Settlers from the most radical enclaves in the occupied West Bank have often attacked farms since the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000, in which settlers have often been targeted by militants.
Settlers say that the land, which Palestinians want for a state, is theirs by biblical birthright.
Residents of Salem said dozens of settlers from Elon Moreh chopped down hundreds of the town's olive trees, the main source of income for 5,000 residents.
"This is not the first time that settlers have cut down dozens of olive trees. Among them were trees more than 30 years old," said Adli Eshiya, a local councilor. Villagers said it was the sixth such attack this year.
Police said that at least 200 olive trees had been destroyed near Salem and that an investigation had begun.
A spokesman for Elon Moreh settlement, Benny Katsover, said he was not aware of the incident.
More than 245,000 settlers live in the West Bank, home to 2.4 million Palestinians. The World Court has said that all of Israel's settlements on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war are illegal. Israel disputes this.
Settlers' anger has grown more intense since Israel removed settlements from the Gaza Strip this year under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for breaking from conflict with the Palestinians.
Although Sharon has said he has no further plans for unilateral withdrawals, he has said that some isolated West Bank settlements would have to go under any eventual peace deal. Elon Moreh is one of the smaller settlements.
rogue yam,So young to zot and I never read about you until tonight.
So according to you, if a poster is habitually dishonest, then that fact (their habitual dishonesty) is off-limits for discussion?
If you're unable to debate issues and ideas without resorting to personal attacks, then you've lost the argument. Think about it.
Admit it, you've been marshmallowed, brown sugared, and baked.
If you are unable to respond to what I have written, and instead merely post vague and arrogant nonsense, then you are behaving in a manner unworthy of this board, its founder, and the country that it intends to preserve.
If you are unable to respond to what I have written, and instead merely post vague and arrogant nonsense, then you are behaving in a manner unworthy of this board, its founder, and the country that it intends to preserve.
Who are you and what is you place in this discussion?
Peace,friend,nothing else.
Dude! That is so last Thursday!
I looks by the pics that the trees are being moved not destroyed. Note the trees are being pulled out root and soil.
From Israel National News: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=93787
Tree-Cutting "Libel" - Once Again, Jews Stand Accused
14:46 Nov 28, '05 / 26 Cheshvan 5766
By Hillel Fendel
Once again, reports that Jewish settlers cut down Arab-owned olive trees are suspected to be a "left-wing provocation" against the Jews of Judea and Samaria.
It was widely reported Sunday, in the name of Arab sources in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, that Jewish settlers from the Shomron had chopped down 200 olive trees owned by Arabs. The Ynet site, for instance, wrote, "Palestinian sources reported that settlers from an outpost near Elon Moreh had cut down" the trees.
The reports were immediately followed by condemnations of the Jewish population in the Shomron and Israel's rule there. The extremist left-wing organization "Peace Now" released a statement saying that the incident was a direct result of the lack of law enforcement in the areas and the continuing "problem of the [Jewish] outposts."
However, the Yesha Council looked into the matter and said that though "we condemn all violence, including harming Palestinian property," it had found that the incident was apparently a provocation staged by extreme left-wing activists who "wish to sully their Jewish brothers, while at the same time extending their hand to terrorists."
The residents of Elon Moreh, in a statement, "wish to emphasize that we have no connection with this incident, which is based on the testimony of a single Arab."
A widely-published AP photo of an Arab woman weeping and embracing an allegedly chopped-down tree (similar photos were taken by Reuters, AFP, and others] shows that the trunk is intact, and that only the top branches are cut off - as if it had been purposely pruned. In fact, the Haifa-based Land of Israel Task Force says that this is exactly what happened.
"The left-wingers and Arabs pulled the same trick last year," Task Force head Aviad Visuly said, "and using the same method." Photos of the trees show that the branches were sawed off in a manner that is beneficial to the trees. "Why would vandals bother sawing off each individual branch? Wouldn't they just cut down the trunk?"
The branches begin growing back 2-3 months after they are cut, and grow to full size within two years. "In the meanwhile," Visuly said, "the orchard owners receive stipends from the Saudis, via the PA."
Visuly said that left-wing activists look for trees that have been pruned, and then blame the Jews for cutting them. "They have even admitted to the police that they do this," he said, "such as in the case of Ein Avus near Hawara [south of Shechem]. In that incident, they blamed the people of [nearby] Yitzhar, because Yitzhar was a convenient media target. Two Jews were arrested for five days and were then released with no charges whatsoever. Today, it's convenient for them to accuse the people of Elon Moreh. If the police had an investigator who was half-fair, he would throw the case out."
Two years ago, a similar story on Arutz-7 began as follows: "It led to anti-settler headlines, international embarrassment for the State of Israel, condemnations, and apologetics - and yet it all may have been one big bluff, or worse." At the time, international media reported as fact that Jews had destroyed the Arab trees, and President Katzav and Prime Minister Sharon issued statements implying that the Jews were responsible. Even the Yesha Council said that the tree-cutting had "defamed the entire sector of Jews living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza."
What went under-reported was that the police began to suspect that left-wing Israelis and Arabs were behind the incident. The police even asked Rabbi Arik Asherman of the Reform Movement and an Arab who filed charges against Jewish Yesha residents to submit to lie-detector tests - but it was reported at the time that the two had refused.
A Jewish National Fund expert brought in by the police concluded that no lasting damage was done to the trees, and that the tree-cutters did not "cut down" the trees, but rather "pruned" them.
Are you a Palestinian? If you are not then you do not understand what I wrote.
You seem a little biased. You know what, Arabs tend to flock to live around Jews. That is just history. Who is not fun to live next to is Palestinians. They tend to slaughter your children.
Really? I am biased because I do not want to take side in this conflict? It is you who is biased.
Two questions. What is wrong with Hanan Ashrawi speaking and working on behalf of her people? Second - having Hanan Ashrawi is comparable to have a governments supporting you?
Are Hanan Ashrawi statements so powerful and compelling that you compare her with the great powers?
First off, there is no such race as "Palestinian".
Secondly, I am a third class citizen in this place, I do not even have the rights of a Palestinian here.
Thirdly, I have Palestinian friends, and Jewish friends, and what you are saying is crap according to the Palestinians I speak with. They tell me about having the clothes stolen off of their clotheslines by AK47 toting "police", about having been shook down for cash by the local terror gangs, about how lucky or unlucky they are as to where they live on what side of the fence. For your information, they count it quite a blessing to live on the Israeli side of the fence as there is law and order.
You are foolish to spout the garbage you say, you do not know a damn thing about Israel. You want to know who is oppressing who, just hop in a car and drive anywhere in the west bank. All the Palestinian villages are open, all the Jewish ones have security fences. It is pretty easy to see who is preying on who.
I have lived here for over five years, and have found the Jews to be the most unbigoted, kind neighbors any terrorist could hope for. Frankly I would have nuked the pukes a long time ago. When I argue with the Jews that they have to stand up for their rights more and stomp these Arab squatters they laugh and say "you are so American, and subtle too..."
I have learned to respect the patience, the willingness to bend over backwards and the care the Jews have for the land rights and hopes and dreams of the terrorists.
I would declare war on the Arab League and drive them all out at gunpoint.
So what you are speaking is horseshirt, and I have the experience to know it.
Really? I am biased because I do not want to take side in this conflict? It is you who is biased.
When a man watches a rape and cheers it on, he is not unbiased, he is morally bankrupt.
By your spreading of lies against the Jews when they are the victim you have clearly taken a side, no matter how much you deny it. You stated you would hate to live next to a Settler, but the "settlers" never attack the Arabs, yet the Arabs attack the Jews daily. There were over 10,000 attempts by Arabs to kill Jews last year and ZERO attempts by Settlers to kill their neighbors. 10,000 to 0 and you can't figure it out!
Damn right I am biased, I can tell the difference between killers and victims. You could not pick the right side if your life depended on it. Know what someone who cannot pick the right side is? A looser. And you do not have to live next to Hamas to understand that.
One example:
I wrote - "I would not want to be a Palestinian living next to those settlers."
You wrote - "You stated you would hate to live next to a Settler".
Your grasping at straws to defend the indefensable. You are also a terrorist supporter who hates Jews.
Pardon me for not being politicaly correct and pretending that your long history of support for the terrorists in Israel is unbiased.
Definitely you need to get some rest.
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