Palestine weekly wrap: Israeli settlers rampage through West Bank villages

“We are building the Land of Israel and destroying the idea of a Palestinian state,” said Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Friday. The action that brought on his comments: Israel’s uprooting of 3,000 Palestinian-planted trees in the occupied West Bank. The destruction of the trees – so that illegal Israeli settlements can expand – was one of a number of Israeli actions this week that emphasised Israel’s continued push to expand its dominance over the West Bank. …