Land Research Center

Violation: Cut olive trees and poisoning its stems with chemicals materials and planted almond by settlers.

Location: Deir Balout town / Salfit governorate.

Date: April,13^th 2025.

Perpetrator: Lishem settlement.

Affected party: Farmer Mohammad Ibrahim Abdallah, Jaser Ahmad Mahmoud Abdallah, Iftih Hussain Abdallah.

Details:

On Sunday, April,13^th 2025, a group of settlers carried out cut and completely destroying to 78 of olive trees in ‘Iraq Al Tota’ area located east Deir Balout town and adjacent to Lishem settlement located on parts of Deir Balout town.

According to field research team, the damage includes cut trees from its stems by settlers and spray what remains chemical materials, in the same time of replanting the same land with almond trees by settlers and set irrigation network to take over about 8 dunams on the land.

The land and affected trees belong to several farmers in the area:

The affected farmer told the LRC researcher as follows:

‘’I own an agricultural land with total area of 15 dunams planted with olive trees aging over 60 years, over past 18 years old, settlers ravaging vast areas from lands and cut all the trees planted under pretext to establish Lishem settlement on the lands that located east of the town, as I loss in my land due to the control over it, as settlers set a siege around what remains of our land, as they cut trees from its stems and stealing all the wood and branches, so what remains from stems of trees sprayed it with chemical materials that preventing it from growth, after that, they replanted the land with almond and set irrigation network. The affected trees number is amounted 78 olive trees that completely destroyed on total land of 8 dunams.’’

 About Deir Ballut town:

24 km west Salfit, Deir Ballut is surrounded by Rafat village (north), The green line – occupied territories of 1948 (west), Kafr Ad-Deek village (east), Al-Lubban Al-Gharbi village (south).

• Deir Ballut is populated 3,870 people in 2017 census. The town’s people are from several families, namely: Tufaha, Khair, Abdullah, Qassim, Qaroush, Mesha’l, Mustafa, Musa and Hadrous.
• Deir Ballut has a total area of 11,339 dunums , of which 503 dunums are a built up area.
• Deir Ballut is popular with rain-fed agriculture such as (Armenian cucumber, Ladies fingers, garlic and others), in addition to olives and wheat.
• Deir Ballut contains a water spring in Wadi Al-Ein area, and the town’s people depend on the National Israeli water company, in addition to rain water harvest cisterns for daily use water.

Oslo accords classified the town’s lands as the following:

– B area: 689 dunums.

– C area: 10,710 dunums.

Legal Commentary:

The Palestinian environment, in general, is subjected to numerous environmental violations by the Israeli occupation, disregarding all international and national laws and conventions related to the protection of environmental rights. The right to live in a clean and healthy environment is a fundamental human right that has been inherent to mankind since the beginning of creation. The occupation often attempts to present itself as being concerned with international environmental issues, despite having signed major environmental protection agreements, such as the Basel Convention in 1989, the Rotterdam Convention in 2008, the Stockholm Convention in 2001, and the Ramsar Convention in 1971, as well as air quality and climate protocols. Nevertheless, Israel continues to violate all of these treaties without accountability or oversight.

In addition to the provisions regarding the right to enjoy a clean and healthy environment for all those under military occupation according to international laws, conventions, and treaties, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 2200A (d-21) on December 16, 1966, in Article (1), paragraph (2): "...All peoples, in pursuit of their own objectives, have the right to freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising from the international economic cooperation based on the principle of mutual benefit and international law. In no case shall a people be deprived of its means of subsistence...".

Undoubtedly, the violations carried out by the Israeli occupation contradicts with the laws of the occupation state itself before any other laws. Referring to the details of this case, the Israeli Penal Code of 1977 and its amendments stipulate that trespassing on someone else's property to commit a criminal act punishable by law is an offense. By reading Article 452 of the Israeli Penal Code, we find that the law punishes those who commit an offense or cause damage to property such as (a water well, a water reservoir, a dam, a floodgate, planted trees, a bridge, a tank, or a water cistern) with a penalty of five years imprisonment.

In addition to, Article 447 of the Penal Code states: "Anyone who does any of the following with the intent to intimidate, insult, or harass the property owner or commit a crime shall be punished by imprisonment for two years:

(1) Enters or crosses the property;

  (2) After entering the property legally, remains there unlawfully.

(b) A crime is committed under this section if the offender carries a firearm or a cold weapon, and the punishment is imprisonment for four years."

By reading the text of this article, we find that the Israeli Penal Code criminalizes the mere act of entering someone else's property without permission, with the intent to insult, harass, or intimidate, and punishes this act with two years of imprisonment. The punishment increases to four years if the offender commits any act on someone else's property using a weapon or a sharp tool, referred to as a "cold weapon." This is explicitly criminalized in the text of Article 447 of the aforementioned Israeli Penal Code. Additionally, a penalty of 5 years imprisonment is imposed on those who cause damage to property mentioned in Article 452. Therefore, the violator, the "settler," should face a compounded violation: the first for entering a property that is not theirs, and the second for trespassing on and cutting down the planted trees, resulting in environmental harm.

Therefore, the Israeli aggressor blatantly violates both international laws and treaties, as well as the internal laws of the "occupying state," in a clear violation. Consequently, the "Israeli judiciary" must hold the settlers accountable and punish them for these actions based on the provisions of their own laws. However, there is no legal accountability for the aggressors by the Israeli judiciary. Despite this, every human being on this earth has the right to live in a clean, healthy, and safe environment, free from any violation or aggression against it.

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