Olive trees planted by settlers on Palestinian land removed; coalition lawmakers fume

Several dozen olive trees planted by settlers on private Palestinian land abutting the Nokdim settlement in the West Bank are uprooted by Civil Administration personnel accompanied by Border Police and IDF forces, leading to political condemnation from senior government and coalition figures.

Gush Etzion Regional Council head Yaron Rosenthal says that his personal intervention along with a legal petition filed against the Civil Administration stopped the operation to uproot the trees before it could be completed. Rosenthal thanked Nokdim residents and gives “a massive congratulations to the residents and activists who demonstrated Zionist activism” in stopping all the trees being removed.

The Civil Administration notes that the land on which the trees were planted was privately owned by Palestinians, and that this is not the first time trees have been illegally planted there and removed.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attacks Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the incident, accusing him of “carrying out a provocation during a fast day and sending forces to uproot trees in the heart of a settlement,” and of “preferring Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] and [US Secretary of Defense Lloyd] Austin to the settlements.”

MK Simcha Rothman also hits out at Gallant, slamming him for carrying out the action during the Fast of Esther and accusing him of failing to take similar action against illegal Palestinian construction close to the nearby town of Zaatara.

“Don’t believe anyone who tells you that the IDF lacks manpower,” snipes Rothman, in reference to the political controversy in which the government is seeking to lengthen reservists’ military duty but also to maintain ultra-Orthodox military service exemptions at the same time.