Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Monday have embarked on uprooting about 2,000 trees planted on privately owned land east of Qalqilia city, northern West Bank, in order to open a new settlement road.
IOF this morning have announced the area as a closed military zone, and arrested international activists protesting that uprooting.
The illegal settlement road will through private Palestinian land and will take over about 104 dunums from Qalqilia city and Izbat Tbaib village.
Member of the Fatah Movement revolutionary council, Bayan Tbaib said that IOF this morning started with uprooting old olive trees which are over 500 years old.
Mousa Tbaib, Activist and owner whose land is being confiscated, said that the land that is being seized is bigger than what Israel has announced, saying that it will take over three square klms, and that the road will be 40-70 meters long.
Mousa says that this land is his source of livelihood that him and his family live off, and that destroying and seizing it will lead to a crisis for his family, in addition to detroying his memories and source of income.
Recently, the UN Security Council has voted in favour of a resolution that condemns Israeli settlements build in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, since they are illegal in international law.