Local Editor

In the third attack in one week, dozens of "Israeli" settlers protected by Zionist soldiers burned and damaged olive trees in the Yasuf village near Salfit in the northern occupied West Bank of Palestine on Friday.

"Israeli" settlers from the Kfar Tappuah settlement set fire to and damaged several olive trees on Friday while "Israeli" soldiers in the area stood by watching, eyewitnesses said.

The attack in Yasuf follows a similar incident on Thursday near Aqraba, south of Nablus, where settlers from Itamar reportedly attacked dozens of Palestinian farmers and sought to steal their olive crop.

Furthermore, another attack preceded on Monday when "Isreali" settlers chopped down dozens of olive trees on Palestinian agricultural land in the Nablus district, an official said.

The attacks come as the 2014 olive harvest, a major source of income for Palestinian farmers, begins across the northern occupied West Bank, and just weeks before harvesting begins across the south.
Attacks on the fall harvest are a key way that Palestinians are forced out of their homes and their lands confiscated for settlement construction, as the loss of a year's crop can signal destitution for many.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank is systematic and ignored by "Israeli" authorities.
In 2013, there were up to 399 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team