Marking World Heritage Day, human rights group Al-Haq has said Israel has targeted several Palestinian sites — including those on Unesco’s World Heritage List — in its ongoing attempt to suppress Palestinian culture and heritage, Al Jazeera reports.

The al-Makhrour region, located in the occupied West Bank’s northern Bethlehem governorate and inscribed on the UN’s World Heritage List in 2014, faces increased threats of land grabbing by Israeli settlers, Al-Haq said.

Palestinians have long “farmed the landmark ancient terraced slopes of the Al-Makhrour and Battir area with vegetables, fruit trees, olives and vines, an area marked out for its unique cultural and agricultural landscape, irrigation system, and archaeological remains”, the rights group said in a statement.

“With the construction and expansion of illegal settlements and related infrastructure in Al-Makhrour, Israel’s settlement enterprise has been disrupting the area’s biodiversity and incredible potential as one of the few remaining farming areas for Palestinians, sustaining Palestinian life,” Al-Haq was quoted as saying.