HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Settlers chopped down dozens of olive trees in the district of Hebron on Friday, a local activist said.

Rateb al-Jabour, from the popular committee against the wall and settlements, said the trees belonged to Ali al-Arda from Yatta.

Jabour appealed to international organizations to help remove the "settlement cancer" which is eating Palestinian land.

Israeli forces were present during the incident, Jabour said.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is systematic in the West Bank.

Over 90 percent of villages which have experienced multiple attacks by settlers are under Israeli security control, The Palestine Center says, meaning local Palestinians only have the official protection of an army which they claim ignores settler violence.