ILA uproots hundreds of olive trees

NAZARETH,  Hundreds of olive trees belonging to Palestinians in the Zulfa and Mosheirefa regions in 1948-occupied Rouha area were uprooted by staff from the so-called “Israeli land administration” (ILA), accompanied by police and military forces.

According to ILA official Eido Reiss, the trees will be handed over and distributed to “a military camp in central Israel”.

He claimed that the trees were planted and located on “state property”, adding that the people’s court of the city of Hadera decided a short time ago to uproot the trees and hand them over to the administration.

“The land has belonged to our family for more than 45 years,” the land’s owner, Mohammed Abdel-Raouf Jabareen, said. “We were surprised by the military and police forces raid on the land to escort the ILA employees to uproot the olive trees, and we fear that this signals confiscation of more Arab lands in the region.”