Palestinians say settlers planting trees on their land

Source: Ynetnews, 1-2-2007
West Bank farmers tell Ynet dozens of Jewish (Zionist) settlers dug holes in preparation for planting thousands of trees ahead of Tu B`Shvat holiday under soldiers` protection;
Ali Waked
"We were on our land when all of a sudden we saw dozens of Jewish settlers coming and digging holes in the ground in preparation for planting thousands of trees for Tu B`Shvat," a Palestinian farmer from the West bank City of Hebron (al-Khalil) told Ynet on Wednesday.
Abd al-Majid Salem, one of the farmers, said "I saw the settlers digging diligently and soldiers were securing them. When we asked the soldiers what was going on they answered that there was a festival and told us to go away. I told them that it was our land but they wouldn`t listen and said it was land that belongs to the government."
Salem said that following the incident he was asked, along with the other farmers, to prove to the Civil Administration that they indeed owned the land.
"This is not the first time that they have planted trees on our land at this time of the year. They`ve done it in the past. Then we have to go and prove that the land that we have been working for decades is ours," he said.
`"Israel" making life easier for settlers`
Rabbis for Human Rights said that the tree planting is contrary to a resolution of the Judea and Samaria (West Bank) Appeals Committee that determined that most of the farm land in the region belongs to farmers who had already gone to court against the supervisor of governmental property.
The farmers said that many of the holes were dug in areas that were specified in the appeal and they were not confined to areas where the land had been expropriated in 1967.
Abd al-Haadi Hankash, from the Committee for Protection of Palestinian Land in the Hebron Region, said that expropriating the lands was meant to create a reality where the Green Line is repositioned deeper in Palestinian land.
Hankash said that the "Israeli" policy was to make life easier for the settlers by creating a territorial continuity and the Palestinian farmers were paying the price of ownership to their land.
The "Israeli" Army responded by saying that the area in question belongs to Meitarim, an industrial area belonging to the state. According to "Israeli" Army the Palestinians appealed that in 1982 and lost, and since then there has been no dispute about the land. The planting activities were authorized by "Israeli" Army and the infrastructure department of the Civil Administration.