Settlers destroy Palestinian olive trees [Happens Every Year This Time]

Reuters ^ | Nov. 27, 2005

[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.

[A. Pole]

Ok, so now you are saying that the settlers are "helping" the Palestinians? Out of the goodness of their hearts?

Exactly.

[A. Pole]

Police now feel that left-wing Israelis and the Arab tree-owners may have manufactured the entire incident as a provocation and a way to besmirch the Jewish population.

It is also very likely. Neither of sides in this conflict is above such tricks.

[Alouette]

You MUST support your side, whitewash it and vilify the other.

Yeah yeah, for the same reason Republicans have to support the President's TANG service record, whitewash it and vilify Dan Rather and CBS News.

[Iwentsouth]

Why are they pruning other peoples trees anyways?

[Alouette]

You're off your rocker.

Excellent example of facts, logic, and accurate historical research.

[It's me]

Thank you.

[bvw]

If one wants to destroy a tree one can

1. Chop it down to a low stump. Some trees -- like a black locust I have, will grow back anyway.
2. Chop it down and grind out the stump. That kills even a tree like the locust I mentioned above.
3. Uproot the tree and seperate the root ball from the ground.
4. Girdle the trunk -- remove the outer and inner bark of the tree in a fingerwidth at least wide ring around the trunk. This is really the same as chopping it down to a stump, except you don't need the big tough saws and all the work. Just some quick gouging strokes with a ax or a pick. The tree may take years to fall, but it is dead once girdled.
5. Use a poison. Except as mentioned next I am unfamiliar with these, yet assume they exist.
6. Ring the trunk with copper nails. I am told the copper acts as a poison.
7. Starve the tree of water or light. Injure it in ways that attract bugs. Expose the tree to blight or fungus. All these techniques take months and years.

Now in the picture the woman is clinging to a tree to which none of thess techniques has been applied. The tree appears pruned. It takes far more work to prune a tree than to cut it down. True, over-pruning can weaken a tree and cause it mortal injury, but is is also true that as you show with the California olive growers, olive trees like most producing fruit trees are most productive when radically pruned.

[ScaniaBoy]

And this is why FReerepublic is such a fantastic site.

One can chose to disbelieve things one reads here but at least information that is never, ever presented in the MSM can be found here, thanks to the posters.

Thanks to you both.

ScaniaBoy

[A. Pole]

Yeah yeah, for the same reason Republicans have to support the President's TANG service record, whitewash it and vilify Dan Rather and CBS News.

No party has monopoly on truth. That is why they are called parties. "Party" - from "part", "portion", "side".

[Piranha]

Thanks. Just call me a poster boy for fair coverage of Israel.

[It's me]

Now, if you had a grove of fruit trees that needed pruning, would you drastically prune them all at once? Or would you do a number of trees per year?

Perhaps that woman, possibly a Christian, saw that tree as her income? Maybe it was to help feed her family?
Do you think that could be the reason she could be so distraut?

Nobody has the right to prune someone elses trees.

[crunchyconservative]

Everyone really needs to keep in mind that there are still thousands of Christian Palestinians in Palestine. Don't lump them into the same group as the Muslims.

Case in point---the priest of our church is a 9th generation priest, and his family's home was literally taken and dozed. The home and the property were in his family for many centuries.

This isn't simply Muslims vs. Jews. Think about all of the Christian holy sites (some of the first Christian churches) that have been destroyed. The people who attended those churches were Christian Arabs. Pray for them!

[Piranha]

Welcome to Free Republic. And just who do you think literally took and dozed your 9th generation priest's family's home? And why do you think whoever did it did it?

[Alouette]

Now, if you had a grove of fruit trees that needed pruning, would you drastically prune them all at once? Or would you do a number of trees per year?

It depends on the orchard. The California grove was pruned all at once. You don't know if the Palestinian orchard was all drastically pruned at once because the entire orchard is not shown in any of the pictures.

Perhaps that woman, possibly a Christian, saw that tree as her income? Maybe it was to help feed her family? Do you think that could be the reason she could be so distraut?

She is wearing a Muslim headscarf. The tree is not destroyed and will produce fruit for many more years. She is crying and tree-hugging for a staged photo op.

Nobody has the right to prune someone elses trees.

NOBODY FREAKING DID!

[Polybius]

So, you are saying that it is ok that the settlers cut down and uprooted the trees? That is a bit different than what the California Olive growers do, don't you think?

My reaction to this thread underwent three stages.

Stage 1 after reading the headline and the start of the article: That was a vindictive and petty thing for those settlers to do.

Stage 2 after seeing the Palestinian woman hugging the tree: Huh? Why didn't the Israeli vandals just saw through the trunk of the tree rather than wasting time cutting small, high branches that will grow back with even more vigor?

Stage 3 after seeing Alouette's pruning article: Oh, I get it. Reuters is just lying through its teeth again or got thoroughly hoodwinked when the Palestinians pruned their own trees and then invited Reuters to blame the settlers with vandalism.

[kenavi]

Why are they pruning other peoples trees anyways?

This is the first time I have heard this defense, and I have heard a stalwart Zionist on the subject.

[kenavi]

Where in your link is the photo of the Arab woman embracing a pruned tree? When I link, the article shows an unrelated photo of Shimon Peres. Thank you.

[WV Mountain Mama]

I would think it they would do it by the grove. It would be easier to keep track of for records of what needs pruned next year. Farmers rotate crops in entire fields, not by rows. I think that you will find out by reading piranha's post, they pruned their own trees.

[Polybius]

She is crying and tree-hugging for a staged photo op.

Are you implying that the news media would use photography to create a staged news event? I'm shocked.

[Alouette]

Link to tree hugger