Israeli Army, Settlers Uproot 59,000 Trees, Seize 50,000 Dunums of Palestinian Land palestinechronicle.com

In 2024, the Israeli army and settlers caused significant environmental damage in the occupied West Bank, uprooting more than 59,000 trees and seizing approximately 50,000 dunums of Palestinian land, Anadolu reported, citing a just-published report.

According to a recent report from the Land Research Center (LRC), a Palestinian research organization based in Jerusalem, this year has seen a marked escalation in settler violence and land confiscation, which the center describes as “settler madness and land hemorrhage.”

The report details that over 59,000 trees have been uprooted or destroyed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank, with 52,373 trees completely eradicated. These losses are especially critical due to the centrality of olive trees to Palestinian agriculture and cultural identity.

The report also notes that Israeli authorities have seized vast tracts of Palestinian land throughout 2024, further diminishing the already shrinking areas of land available to Palestinian farmers. A total of 50,000 dunums of land — an area roughly the size of 50 square kilometers — has been confiscated by Israel, displacing Palestinian communities and restricting their access to essential resources.

In a related incident in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, Israeli settlers targeted local Palestinian Bedouin communities by destroying olive trees and chasing Palestinian shepherds from their grazing lands, Anadolu reported.

Hasan Melihat, the general supervisor of the Bieder Organization (a group defending the rights of Bedouin and rural Palestinian villages), reported that settlers unleashed their livestock onto Palestinian farmland, causing further destruction to olive groves and deepening the economic hardship faced by local Palestinians.

This destructive pattern is part of Israel’s broader strategy to expand its illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Settler violence and the continuous land seizures not only impact Palestinian agriculture but also threaten the fabric of Palestinian society by limiting their ability to cultivate the land that has sustained them for generations.