LONDON: Israeli settlers burned a welcome sign at the entrance of Burqa, a village east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, amid an increase in violent attacks against Palestinians in October.
Sayel Kanaan, head of the Burqa council, said settlers on Tuesday burned the monument by igniting tires on its stonework, resulting in extensive damage, before residents extinguished the blaze, according to the Palestine News Agency.
Some Palestinians in the West Bank have built monuments with a welcome sign at the entrance to their villages. Kanaan said that the attack coincided with the olive harvest season. Settlers have attacked farmers from Burqa who attempted to cultivate their olive trees, leaving a 47-year-old with head injuries over the weekend.
Settlers have carried out 647 attacks since late September, including stealing olives, cutting down or burning trees, and seizing crops, the PNA added.
Dov Lior, a hardline Jewish rabbi, issued a religious ruling on Friday permitting settlers to harvest olives from Palestinian orchards. His ruling followed a fatwa from the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Ahmad Hussein, which prohibits purchasing olive oil from Israeli settlers, produced from olives stolen from Palestinian-owned trees.
October traditionally marks the start of the harvest for Palestinians, many of whom regard olive trees as a national and cultural symbol. The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture reported last week that more than 98,000 olive trees have been damaged in the West Bank over the past three years due to Israeli policies and violent actions by settlers, resulting in a financial loss for farmers of $66 million.