Dr. Saeb Erakat on the latest settler attack

Dr. Saeb Erakat, Chief Palestinian Negotiator, strongly condemned the latest attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in Deir Hatab village in the eastern area of Nablus.

On October 26, Israeli settlers from the Alon Moreh settlement, (illegally built on lands owned by Palestinians from the village of Deir Hatab), contaminated over 660 olive trees with sewage water—poisoning the olives.

''This is yet another example of the nonchalance of and full cooperation of Israeli authorities in the face of violence by settlers and extremists against Palestinian civilians’’, he added, calling on the international community to immediately intervene and stop the daily aggressions by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

The original land size of the village of Deir Hatab is 11,000 dunums (1,100 acres), all belonging to the 2,500 Palestinian inhabitants. Since 1995, Israel has denied village inhabitants access to 8,000 dunums (800 acres) of their land. In the remaining 3,000 dunums (300 acres), Palestinians are allowed to access their land only 4 times per year. It is on this land where many hoped to earn their lively hood by harvesting olives, a harvest now contaminated by settlers.

Dr. Erakat concluded by saying that the “settler attacks against Palestinian civilians show the real face of the Israeli colonization process. With more settlement construction the Israeli government is rewarding the most extremist segments of their society.’’