***image2***Today, two settlers of Itimar settlement burned, approximately 10 dunums of an olive grove. The fires were North East of Awarta village, in the South Nablus district, and owned by Mr. Noâman Awwad from the village. Witnesses from the village said the settlers arrived at the fields around mid-day in a green four-wheel drive car and started a fire. Another witness from the village recognized the car to be owned by the chief of security in the settlement.
In minutes, Occupation Forces arrived to the area and refused to allow the village council and the farmers to enter the lands to fight the fire. The people later called the Palestinian fire department that sent vehicles to fight the fire, but Occupation Forces only allowed them to access the land after an hour and a half, once most of the trees had been destroyed.
Village councilor and coordinator of the campaign committee in the village, Hassan Awwad, said that these attacks by settlers, with the protection of the Occupation Forces, are organized planned attacks that aim to cause the utmost destruction just days before the beginning of olive harvest. But Palestinian farmers will respond to these attacks by working even harder to tend and farm the land of Palestine.