A shocking story. Israeli authorities have uprooted 1500 apple and apricot trees on a renowned Palestinian farm near Bethlehem weeks ahead of harvest; and the case is drawing global attention on social media.
Landowner Daoud Nassar of the Tent of Nations writes on Facebook of the atrocity:
“Today at 08.00, Israeli bulldozers came to the fertile valley of the farm where we planted fruit trees 10 years ago, and destroyed the terraces and all our trees there. More than 1500 apricot and apple trees as well as grape plants were smashed and destroyed.”
Later, as international outrage resonates, this message:
Dear Friends of Tent of Nations,
Very soon we will be asking you to take actions, please be prepared.
Thank you for all your emails, your phone calls and your concerns.
Daoud
Ben White has posted an account of the destruction at Electronic Intifada:
Israeli forces destroyed an estimated 1,500 fruit trees belonging to the Tent of Nations farm outside Nahalin village, in the Bethlehem region of the occupied West Bank yesterday morning.
Owned by the Nassar family, the farm lies just below Neve Daniel, an Israeli settlement, located in the Gush Etzion bloc. The property has long been targeted by Israeli occupation authorities seeking to confiscate the land and remove an obstacle to settlement expansion.
According to the family, soldiers arrived at their land early in the morning, and in a couple of hours uprooted some 1,500 apricot and apple trees, burying them under piles of soil.
Lynn Gottlieb writes:
Daoud, this news has spread throughout many many circles of concern and people are ready to raise funds for trees and lawyers, come over and help plant, and share what happened in a broad way. We are deeply troubled and shed tears with you for this senseless loss.
Aharon Varady: “What a mockery of the Torah.”
From Gary Spedding’s photos, you can see the broken trees:
Here is Ben White’s earlier visit to Tent of Nations describing the demolition orders that the property is under.
These Zionists are not only enemies of humanity, but of the very earth itself. What kind of low-life scum destroys the literal fruit of the soil?? Settlers are like a plague.
This is inhumane and sadistic behavior. Recently they murdered two innocent kids, lied until the video showed up, and now destroy orchards, depriving an already helpless people, of a decent livelihood. Perhaps they might prefer these poor farmers lay down their farming equipment, and send rockets instead of trying to make a living. It is such a shame that all their hard work, and taking care of these trees, for years, have resulted in evil destroying their hopes and dreams. The zionist government of Israel are the nazis of our time.
I’m sure Jodi Rudoren and her friends at the NYT are paying attention. And I’m also sure that they don’t give a shit about this kind of colonization.
After all, they’re Zionists. They support this.
When I read about this sort of vindictive, evil behavior I am just speechless. The US government should shoulder a lot of the blame for these activities of the Israeli Army. The reason is that the majority of US politicians support the Israelis and embolden them, so that these politicians can receive financial contributions from US Jews who also apparently support such activities. The IDF are not just defending Israel but they are also relentless thugs and thieves.
Gee, where is Mehane .I thought he might like to suggest this is more Pallywood.
”
@Allison:
I thought you are an honest journalist and wouldn’t bring this classic Pallywood.” Mehane
https://mondoweiss.mystagingwebsite.com/2014/05/palestinian-israeli-soldiers.html
This creep should be banned .