Settlers damage Palestinian trees with impunity: study

Jewish settlers who vandalize Palestinian trees are not being brought to justice, with police inquiries repeatedly failing to lead to prosecutions, a human rights group said on Tuesday.

In an examination of around 100 Palestinian complaints of damage to their trees, Yesh Din researchers found that the police investigations did not result in a single indictment, with cases closed on grounds of insufficient evidence or "unknown perpetrator."

Conducted over a five-year period, the study tracked 97 cases where trees were vandalized, most of them olive trees, the group said.