On the 3rd of May, scores of volunteers have managed to plant 300 fruit tree seedlings and distribute 5000 thyme seedlings among low-income farmers in lands threatened with confiscation by Israeli authorities to expand a settlement in Deir Estia in Salfit governorate in the occupied West Bank.

Volunteers efforts were hampered by Israeli soldiers who halted the planting of a further 100 tree seedlings.

The work came in an urgent act to re-grow almond, olive and fig tree seedlings removed earlier by settlers in a nearby colony built on Palestinian land in the area. The planting initiative supported by APN is part of its Third Million Tree Campaign in Palestine. It is also part of ‘the Land is Ours’ campaign organized by the Palestinian Voluntary Work Committee in conjunction with Deir Estia municipality and Al-Bireh town library.