Thinking Meat

Just a quick post to say that this behavior by radical settlers is despicable:

EINABUS, West Bank — Men with chain saws destroyed Fawzi Hussein's olive grove overnight — 255 trees cut down at the trunks, fruit-laden branches wilting on a West Bank slope, at the height of the harvest season.

The suspected culprits: militant settlers who have been harassing Palestinian farmers for years, especially in the past three years of fighting. Human-rights groups say it's part of an attempt to drive Palestinians off their land.

No, it's nowhere near as revolting as Arab murders of Israeli civilians. (This is.) But it's still absolutely appalling.

Update: On the other hand...

The police investigation into the cutting down of Arab-owned olive trees near the Jewish neighborhood of Mitzpe Yitzhar has taken a dramatic turn. The opinion of an expert from the Jewish National Fund – brought in by the police – is that the “tree-cutter” severed the upper branches in a way that avoids any serious damage to the actual tree. On the basis of the expert opinion, the police are requesting that those who filed the accusations - left-wing activists and Arabs from the village of Inbus - submit to lie-detector tests. . .

Residents of the village of Yitzhar in Northern Samaria, as well as the outlying neighborhoods of Mitzpe Yitzhar and Hill 725 have published a joint statement denying any connection to the cutting of the village of Inbus’ olive trees. The letter is a response to MK Efraim Sneh and some in the press who have stated, “without a shred of evidence” that the residents cut down the olive trees.

Given the Arabs' propensity to staging funerals and "massacres" in the past, and the press's instantaneous aping of whatever accusation is levied against Israelis, it's certainly right to be suspicious.