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CPT: Settlers torch Palestinian olive grove
Published Saturday 28/05/2011 (updated) 29/05/2011 10:45
A handout photo taken on May 27 by the Christian Peacemaker Teams shows a
Palestinian fireman surveying damage to an olive tree. CPT said Israeli settlers
set fire to the Palestinian-owned field near Hebron damaging 16 trees.
[MaanImages/CPT]
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers set fire to an olive grove belonging to a Palestinian family near Hebron on Friday, an international monitoring group reported.
The fire damaged 16 trees belonging to the Abu Haikel family in Tel Rumeida, Christian Peacemaker Teams said, adding that some of the trees affected were over 1,000 years old.
Palestinian firefighters arrived to put out the blaze, but Israeli soldiers confiscated their hoses and gave them old equipment to use, CPT said.
Volunteers with the US organization said they asked soldiers to return the equipment but the troops did not respond.
Asked if the trees would produce olives again, Abu Haikel's son told CPT: "No, they've burned them for the last seven years."
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