Radical Jews uproot 80 Palestinian olive trees

Israeli settlers - acting on authority from 'God' - destroy Palestinian trees in West Bank.

NABLUS, West Bank - Radical Israeli settlers on Thursday uprooted 80 olive trees belonging to Palestinians in the north of the occupied West Bank, witnesses and Palestinian security services said.

Settlers from the Yitzhar settlement near the city of Nablus, destroyed the trees some 150 metres (yards) from their settlement, the sources said.

Yitzhar is among the most extremist settlements in the West Bank. Its residents believe Jews have a God-given, biblical-era right to the Palestinian land and are frequently accused of harassing Palestinians living in the area.

All Jewish settlements are illegal under international law because they are built on Arab land (mainly Palestinian), illegally occupied by Israel since 1967.

Around illegal 200,000 Jewish settlers are estimated to have moved into the dozen or so Israeli settlements in Palestinian East Jerusalem.

There are about 300,000 more illegal Jewish settlers currently living in settlements the Palestinian West Bank.

The settlers adhere to radical ideologies and are extremely violent to almost-defenseless Palestinians.