In a year marked by environmental devastation, Israeli forces and settlers have uprooted tens of thousands of trees and confiscated large swaths of Palestinian land in the West Bank, exacerbating the broader environmental crisis that is also unfolding in Gaza. In 2024, the Israeli army and settlers caused significant environmental damage in the occupied West Bank, uprooting more than 59,000 trees and seizing approximately 50,000 dunums of Palestinian land, Anadolu reported, citing a just-published report.
According to a recent report from the Land Research Center (LRC), a Palestinian research organization based in Jerusalem, this year has seen a marked escalation in settler violence and land confiscation, which the center describes as “settler madness and land hemorrhage.”
The report details that over 59,000 trees have been uprooted or destroyed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank, with 52,373 trees completely eradicated. These losses are especially critical due to the centrality of olive trees to Palestinian agriculture and cultural identity.
Poster Comment:
1,000 dunums = 247 acres.
Israel has destroyed over 1 million Palestinian olive trees. They have stolen many olive trees and orange trees.