RAMALLAH (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli occupation forces (IOF), continued on Friday their systematic destruction of ancient olive groves in the Palestinian town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, for the third day in a row.
Local activist Ayed Ghafri reported that settlers, escorted by IOF, bulldozed approximately 10 dunums (nearly 2.5 acres) of land. The targeted area stretched along a 1,200-meter path, with a depth between 10 and 15 meters, and included locations such as Namoura, Shab al-Nimr, and the Mazra’a neighborhood along the old Ramallah-Nablus road.
Ghafri emphasized that the destruction was deliberate and calculated. “They are completely destroying the trees before uprooting them, so that the residents can’t replant or salvage them,” he said. Many of the trees uprooted were olive trees dating back to the Roman era—an irreplaceable part of Palestine’s agricultural and cultural heritage.
This latest escalation is part of a broader wave of settler activity in and around Sinjil. On Tuesday, settlers began constructing a new illegal outpost in the Jabal al-Tal area, south of the town, erecting wooden structures. The same area contains an archaeological site that has been repeatedly targeted by settlers, who have pitched tents there in previous attempts to claim the land.
In August 2023, the IOF issued a military order to seize additional land in Sinjil and nearby Turmusaya, citing plans to reroute a barbed-wire fence through the area. In February, another seizure order affected 29 dunums of local farmland. The fence will block residents from accessing large portions of their land and cut off direct routes to the main road, deepening the displacement and restrictions already faced by Palestinian farmers.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, settlers attempted to dismantle and steal a metal shed early Friday morning in the Arab al-Milehat community, northwest of Jericho.
According to Al-Haq, a human rights group focused on Bedouin communities, settlers entered the area at dawn and began removing parts of a 150-square-meter iron structure belonging to Atallah Suleiman Kaabneh. Residents confronted the settlers and managed to force them to retreat before they could take the structure.
These incidents come amid an intensifying campaign of settler violence and land seizure across the occupied West Bank, often carried out with the tacit approval—or active support—of the IOF. Rights organizations warn that such actions are part of a broader strategy of ethnic cleansing, aiming to displace Palestinians and solidify control over key parts of the territory.
