Israeli settlers vandalized hundreds of olive trees

West Bank (QNN)- Israeli settlers today vandalized around 250 olive trees in the village of Kisan east of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem , according to local officials.

Ahmad Ghazal, deputy head of Kisan village council, told WAFA that the trees, which vandalized by Israeli settlers, belongs to Ayoub Ibayyat who planted them before only two weeks.

Palestinians plant around 10,000 new olive trees in the West Bank each year, most of which are of oil-pro­duc­ing varieties.

However, Palestinians see the destruc­tion of their trees as a way for the occupation to erase Palestinian iden­tity and force them to cede more land to Israel.

According to United Nations mon­i­tors, more than 4,000 olive trees and other tree crops have been burned or removed by Israeli set­tlers and sol­diers since the start of 2020.