Israeli settlers flood Palestinian vineyards with sewage in occupied West Bank

(MENAFN- Palestine News Network) Bethlehem/PNN/

For the second time in less than a fortnight, Israeli settlers have opened wastewater drains to flood Palestinian farmlands in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian media activist Mohammad Awwad said several armed Israelis from Gush Etzion settlement, located directly south of Jerusalem, caused flooding of Palestinian-owned vineyards in Beit Ummar town, located eleven kilometers northwest of al-Khalil (Hebron), with sewage on Monday.

Awwad, citing the Palestinian grape farmers affected in the incident, added that Israeli settlers have been intentionally deluging Palestinian farmlands with huge volumes of wastewater over the past few years, causing a great deal of financial losses.

The media activist estimated that the latest sewage flooding has damaged more than four acres of land.

On April 5, Israeli settlers pumped wastewater into Palestinian farmlands in the same West Bank village.

Local sources said at the time that Israeli settlers from Etzion settlement flooded sewage into lands planted with grapes and owned by three Palestinian families, destroying the produce.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem

The UN Security Council has condemned Israel's settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

Less than a month before US President Donald Trump took office, the Security Council in December 2016 adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to 'immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

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