Another Settler Arson of Salem’s Olive Trees

Uri Pinkerfeld, Villages Group coordinator for Salem and Deir El Hattab, reports:

On Sunday November 14 2010, around 12 noon, smoke was seen rising from the olive orchards on the slopes of Jabal Kabeer above Salem. Several farmers went to locate the fire’s location, north of the settler bypass road, not far from the cistern. Two local teenagers who were shepherding nearby hurried to the location as well, and tried to put out the fire. They reported having seen two settlers run off towards the “Skali Farm” settler outpost. The farmers immediaterly called firefighters from Nablus and the officers of the District Coordination Office. The military allowed the fire truck to get to the orchards, but the road was too steep. Farmers eventually managed to put out the fire manually.

Several dozen olive trees were burnt. One youth who had inhaled a large amount of smoke, needed treatment at the Rafidiyyeh Hospital in Nablus.

Five years ago, in October 2005, a settler arson in the same region had burnt many hundreds of olive trees. The ID card of a settler from Elon More was found at one of the arson spots, but The Israeli police eventually closed the case without investigating.