Israeli forces uproot land in Bethlehem village

Israeli bulldozers uprooted agricultural land in the Bethlehem village of al-Khader on Monday, a local committee said. Ahmad Salah, the spokesman for the local committee against the wall and settlements, told Ma'an news agency today that five dunams of private Palestinian land were leveled in al-Absiyya, near the settlement of Elazar. Olive trees and a well belonging to Riziq Muhammad Hussein Salah were also destroyed. Settlers led by a female leader then stole several uprooted olive trees and took them away in trucks, Salah said. "Her name is Nadia Matar , the founder of the settler group known as women in green. This group maintains that all hills in the Etzion area must be under settler control to build religious schools and parks," he added. Last week, Israeli forces moved part of a military checkpoint near al-Khader, witnesses said. Meanwhile eyewitnesses told Ma'an that a checkpoint at the entrance to Newe Daniyyel settlement, built on private Palestinian land, was moved around 400 meters, effectively annexing around 300 dunams of land.