Land Research Center

Violation: The occupation issues a military order to bulldoze agricultural lands and uprooted olive trees.

Location: Madama village, south Nablus

Date: April, 2^nd 2025

Perpetrating party: The Israeli occupation army

Affected party: Several farmers

Details:

 On Wednesday morning, April 2^nd2025, The Israeli occupation forces executed an attack on Madama village lands, the attack included cutting and destroying trees on the northern part of Madama lands, which is located next to bypass No.60, specifically within Jurat Khalifa and Masmar areas.

Moreover, the Israeli occupation used a bulldozer to destroy several olive groves that are located nearby the village houses, which are located on the northern side of the lands of Madama, they destroyed and uprooted 210 fruitful olive trees, and demolished a water harvesting cistern, All the practices were conducted under the pretext of building without a license.

It is worthy mentioning that bulldozing and cutting trees violations occur for a time in a month, the field research team noted that on March 8^th2025, the occupation bulldozed and uprooted 55 olive trees that 20 meters away from the site that bulldozed today. According to field monitoring team, the occupation forces systematically uprooted trees, noting that the trees were lined  on the corners along bypass road no.60.

The affected lands belong to several farmers including:

The affected farmer, Abbas Nassar, told LRC :

‘’what happened today is a vicious violation that targets olive trees, Our village has long been suffering from attacks by the occupation and settlers. Dozens of olive trees are destroyed every year by the settlers, although we have fled many complaints against settlers, at least 50 trees have been destroyed by settlers, noting that my land was bulldozed and damaged in 1990s when the bypass road was constructed cutting through my lands, the few remaining trees were uprooted today, which used to produce about  10 tins of olive oil, this act is a great injustice and we do not understand the reason behind it.’’

Moreover, in latter part of January, the so -called commander of the Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank, Aluf Blot, issued a new military order titled ‘’ order regarding seizure of land – adoption of measures, that targets 15 dunams of farmland surrounding  bypass road no. 60 traversing the properties of the village of Madama and Burin southwest of Nablus. What is happens today is a direct implementation of this war order because the lands bulldozes fall within the areas demarcated in that order. On March 8^th 2025, the field researcher monitoring documented that 55 olive trees were destroyed.  This came after, on January, 12^th 2025 , the occupation army bulldozed and uprooted 15 olive trees located next to colonial bypass, These actions were conducted under same reasons and with a military order issued by the commander of the occupation army in West Bank. 

Madama:[1]

Madama is 12km to the southeast of Nablus and is surrounded by Iraq Burin and Till (north), Asira al Qibliya (west), Burin (east), and Urif (south).

According to 2017 population projections , Madama is inhabited by 2,092 people.

It has a total area of 3824 dunums, 190 of which are built-up area of the village.

The Israeli occupation confiscated 118 dunums for Yitzhar colony which was built on Madama lands in 1983. The colony is inhabited by 400 colonists.

Attacking Trees... A Form of Israeli Violations of Palestinian Environment:

The frequency of attacks by settlers and the military on Palestinian trees has been increasing. According to the field research team at the Land Research Center, since the beginning of 2024, the occupation has targeted more than 59,500 trees and saplings, marking the highest number in the past 10 years. Of these trees, 90% have been completely destroyed, which signals a real environmental disaster.

The loss of trees, whether by cutting, burning, or poisoning, results in a reduction in the number of trees, leading to a decrease in vegetation cover. This, in turn, reduces the amount of oxygen produced in the region and increases the concentration of carbon dioxide. Moreover, the destruction of trees leaves animals without shelter or food, threatening the extinction of certain species due to the destruction of their natural habitat, which harms biodiversity.

مشروع: حماية الحقوق البيئية الفلسطينية في مناطق "ج" SPERAC IV - GFFO

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of Land Research Center and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the project donor; the Norwegian Refugee Council.

إخلاء المسؤولية: الآراء ووجهات النظر الواردة في هذا التقرير هي آراء ووجهات نظر مركز أبحاث الأراضي ولا تعكس بالضرورة وجهات نظر أو مواقف الجهة المانحة للمشروع؛ المجلس النرويجي. للاجئين

show effects of bulldozing the lands and trees