The Occupation cut down Hundreds of Forest and Olive trees in ‘Einun Area / Tubas Governorate

January 27, 2021

• Violation: Cutting hundreds of olive trees.
• Location: ‘Einun area / Tubas Governorate.
• Date: January 27^th 2021.
• Perpetrators: The Israeli Civil Administration.
• Victims: People of the area.

Description:

In the early morning hours of Wednesday January 27^th 2021, Massive army forces accompanied by the Responsible on Governmental Properties at the Civil Administration raided ‘Einun area east Tubas, and completely closed off As-Sahel area , and prohibited farmers and citizens from entry . Using an electric saw , the occupation troops cut down 350 forest trees planted on a 35 dunums area , of which 150 are Acacia trees , and 200 pine trees. (According to LRC estimations).

The Occupation troops also cut and sabotaged (64) olive trees aging nine years old  from a plot belongs to Nemr Masa’ed , that the occupation claims is declared as a “Governmental Property”. Noteworthy, the Occupation Authorities gave Citizen Al-Masa’ed an eviction notice on the plot on the pretext that it is a governmental property late 2014.

The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture , with funding from the Arab Fund for environment protection under project of Greening Palestine late 2014 , planted forest trees on  vast areas of lands in the Jordan Valley especially Umm Kbaish and Einun areas , in order to beautify the area and attract tourists. Following the project, the Occupation announced most of the area “Governmental Properties” , and issued eviction and closure notices on large parts of the area’s lands.

‘Einun was inside the occupation’s target area , especially natural block 58 , piece 18 , known as Al-Marzeya block , and natural block 57 piece 5 known as Kharab Hamoud , most of these lands were planted with trees , in late 2014 , and early 2015 many of the trees were uprooted by the so-called governmental properties officer.

Photos 1-8: The targeted trees

The Legal Department at Tubas Governorate submitted a petition to the Israeli Supreme court, but it was refused in 2020, and the court decided to carry out the demolition.

Noteworthy, Khirbet Einun is located 4 km east Tubas and it is considered a part of it, The Khirbet is inhabited by several Bedouin families , and live a basic live depending on cattle breeding and agriculture as a main source of income, most of agricultural lands in Khirbet Einun are considered closed military zones by the occupation.