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Palestinians Replant Trees After Israel Uproots Thousands

Carrying spades and pickaxes, dozens of Palestinian activists and staff from the Palestinian agriculture ministry worked to plant trees in a valley near Khirbeit Einoun, in Tubas governorate - AFP
Carrying spades and pickaxes, dozens of Palestinian activists and staff from the Palestinian agriculture ministry worked to plant trees in a valley near Khirbeit Einoun, in Tubas governorate - AFP
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Palestinians Replant Trees After Israel Uproots Thousands

Carrying spades and pickaxes, dozens of Palestinian activists and staff from the Palestinian agriculture ministry worked to plant trees in a valley near Khirbeit Einoun, in Tubas governorate - AFP
Carrying spades and pickaxes, dozens of Palestinian activists and staff from the Palestinian agriculture ministry worked to plant trees in a valley near Khirbeit Einoun, in Tubas governorate - AFP

Palestinians on Thursday replanted hundreds of trees in the occupied West Bank, a day after Israel's army uprooted thousands of trees in the area, saying they had been illegally planted in a military zone.

Carrying spades and pickaxes, dozens of Palestinian activists and staff from the Palestinian agriculture ministry worked to plant seedlings in a valley near Khirbeit Einoun, in Tubas governorate, an AFP journalist said.

An estimated 500 trees were planted on Thursday and the operation is expected to continue for several days, agriculture ministry official Jaafar Salahat told the official Wafa news agency.

Palestinian activist Moataz Bisharat, who works to oppose Israel's occupation of the West Bank, told AFP the army had destroyed about 10,000 trees, including hundreds of olive trees, on Wednesday "on the grounds that the area is a restricted military zone".

The Israeli military branch responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank (COGAT) said it had "carried out an enforcement activity to evacuate an illegal agricultural invasion in a fire zone".

In response to a query from AFP, COGAT said "the enforcement activity was carried out in accordance with the procedures of the region's authorities according to the law applicable in Judea and Samaria", using biblical names for the West Bank.

Palestinian activist Khairi Hanoun said the tree planting was aimed at sending "a message to the occupier".

"Trees are our roots, our history, our heritage, our identity," he said.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.

There are currently about 475,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank living in communities considered illegal by most of the international community, alongside some 2.8 million Palestinians.

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Danish Archaeologists Unearth 50 Viking Skeletons

Massacred 10th century Vikings found in a mass grave at St John’s College, Oxford. Photograph: Thames Valley Archaeological Services/PA
Massacred 10th century Vikings found in a mass grave at St John’s College, Oxford. Photograph: Thames Valley Archaeological Services/PA
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Danish Archaeologists Unearth 50 Viking Skeletons

Massacred 10th century Vikings found in a mass grave at St John’s College, Oxford. Photograph: Thames Valley Archaeological Services/PA
Massacred 10th century Vikings found in a mass grave at St John’s College, Oxford. Photograph: Thames Valley Archaeological Services/PA

The excavation of a large Viking-era burial site in Denmark has unearthed 50 unusually well-preserved skeletons that archaeologists expect will help shed light on the lives of the Nordic people best known for their seafaring exploits in the Middle Ages.

The skeletons, discovered near Denmark's third-largest city Odense, were kept intact by high water levels and favorable soil conditions that prevented them from decomposing, according to Michael Borre Lundoe, the excavation leader from Museum Odense, Reuters reported.

"Normally when we excavate Viking graves, we'd be lucky if there were two teeth left in the grave besides the grave goods. But here we have the skeletons fully preserved," said Lundoe.

"The skeletons are so amazing. They are so well preserved. There are five fingers, five toes. And that opens up a whole new set of possibilities for discoveries," he said.

Rare artifacts such as knives, glass pearls and brooches dated between year 850 to 970 were also found at the excavation, which began six months ago.

Lundoe said the grave gifts indicate most of the people were part of a small community of farmers, although a woman of higher status was buried with a silver-ornamented knife and a piece of glass which was rare in the Viking Age.

Archaeologists took soil samples to search for pollen to determine which season the person was buried in and what textiles they wore.

An x-ray of a soil block from the site revealed an oval brooch, an iconic Viking Age jewelry piece associated with women's garments, covered with wood and human remains.

On the back of another brooch with period-specific ornaments, mineralized woven textile fragments provided evidence of the type of dress worn in the Viking Age, the archaeologists said.

Most of the skeletons have been removed from the graves and packed in cardboard boxes at the museum to dry out before the examination and final cleaning.