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Settler Violence Report, July-August 2010

By Ahmad Jaradat and Maria Chiara Rioli
The Alternative Information Center (AIC)
9.9.10
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/settlers-violence/2850-settler-violence-report-july-august-2010-


Hebron and Southern West Bank

- On 9 July, four Palestinians workers from the town of Yatta in the Hebron District were injured when a group of settlers beat them with stakes. The aggression happened after the workers finished farming their land inside the Green Line. The attack occurred in the evening, when the workers were coming back to Yatta after having finished the day`s work.

Abed Abu Fanar, Media Coordinator of the Yatta Municipality, said, “the workers were taken to E’temad Hospital in the town because they were prevented from receiving medical treatment in Israeli hospitals.” Raed Najeh Id’es, 25 years old, sustained a head injury and his left hand was broken; Jawad Omar Mohammed Id’es, 23 years old; Muaad Ghaleb Id’es, 16 years old, and Sami Najeh Id’es, 17 years old, were also injured. The Mayor of the town, Zahran Abu Qubaita, reported that such violent attacks are very dangerous and that attacks by settlers against Palestinian workers are increasing in the southern area of Hebron.




- On 11 July, a Palestinian farmer from the Al-Khadr village in the Bethlehem district was struck down by an Israeli settler driving a car. Mahmoud Judah Sbeih was riding a donkey toward his land near the Efrat settlement on the bypass road near Al-Khadr when the car hit him. Sbeih fell on a pile of rocks and he reported injuries to his right leg, chest, and abdomen. The farmer was prevented from receiving medical treatment in an Israeli hospital because he has a West Bank ID card. The man was later taken to the Al-Yamama Hospital in Al-Khadr where doctors described his injuries as moderate.


- On 10 July, settlers from the outpost of Avraham Avino, in cooperation with some soldiers, attacked the residents and many internationals gathering at Al-Shllalah Street, in the downtown of Hebron. The settlers stoned the demonstrators and threw dirty water at them, during the weekly protest action organized by Youth against Settlements.


- On 12 July, settlers from Kiryat Arba attacked an elderly Palestinian man. He received injuries to the head and was later taken to the local hospital.


- On 15 July, settlers from the Ramot Yashai outpost in the downtown of Hebron beat a child, Inas Mazen Qa’qoor, age 10. She was taken to Hebron’s public hospital. According to her family, a group of young settlers stopped her and beat her with stones. Her conditions were described as not serious.


- On 18 July, settlers driving a motorcycle ran over a child, Abed Allah Hasan El Muhtaseb, age 11, from Hebron. He was injured on El Sahla Road, in the downtown of the city, and was taken to the local clinic. The event occurred in the afternoon. The settler who injured the child drove away without helping him.


- On 19 July, Mustafa Daraghma of Jenin was injured in a car accident that resulted from the collision of his car and a settler driving on the bypass road 60, east of Hebron. The settler drove away and didn’t help Daraghma, who waited half an hour before the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance came and took him to the Al-Ahali Hospital in Hebron City. According to medical sources in the hospital, his injuries were described as mild.


- On 21 July, three settlers, one of them armed, stole a sheep from a young Palestinian shepherd, a resident of the village of Tuba, while he was watering the flocks at a well situated in the Umm Zeitouna valley, located between the settlements of Ma’on and Karmel. According to a press release issued by the Operation Dove volunteers, at around 8 am two Israeli settler vehicles pulled over on the roadside. A settler exited from one of the two cars, walked to the shepherd’s flock, and after grabbing a sheep by the ear, dragged the animal a few yards before loading it on his shoulders. He then walked away towards the road, where two other settlers, one of them armed, were waiting for him. The animal was loaded into one of the vehicles with the help of two other settlers, while the shepherd remained at a distance filming the theft with a camera from the Israeli association B’Tselem, which gives cameras to Palestinians in the area to document settler attacks.


The young Palestinian pointed out that during the theft, on the road not far from the settlers’ cars, there was an Israeli military jeep. Although the soldiers were present during the incident, after a nod by the settlers they left the scene without intervening. The shepherd then reported the theft of the sheep to Israeli police, who arrived on the scene with Ma’on settlement’s security guard and two other settlers identified as Havat Ma’on residents and responsible for previous attacks against Palestinians. The police refused to talk to the shepherd who wanted to make a complaint, saying they did not know Arabic or English and insisted on speaking with the boy’s father, although he was not present at the time of the robbery. A few minutes later the police went to the village of Tuba to pick up the parent and bring him to the police station in Kiryat Arba. The young shepherd, accompanied by international volunteers, followed his father to the Israeli police station to make a complaint and bring the video of the incident.


- On 23 July, dozens of settlers started building a new outpost in the Al-Buweirah neighborhood between the Old City of Hebron and the settlement of Kiryat Arba. The settlers brought mobile homes and sheds in the morning in order to install them themselves. Local and international protesters gathered at the site, but the Israeli army forced them to leave. Clashes erupted and, according to some eyewitnesses, two photojournalists and four residents were arrested.


- On 30 July, settlers from the Karmiel settlement, in the southern district of Hebron, attacked and damaged the farms belonging to families from Om El-Khair village, south-east of the town of Yatta. The settlers damaged the water pipe system and the plants. Moreover, they blocked the water supplies for the farmers. The farmers presented several complaints to the Israeli police station in Kiryat Arba. The land targeted is a one-dunam lot planted with vegetables. As a consequence of the settler attack, the seasonal harvest was destroyed. This was not the first time that the settlers have tried to take over the land in order to annex it to the settlement.


- On 4 August, residents of the village At-Tuwani found that the fence built between the village and the woods bordering the Havat Ma’on outpost had been partially destroyed during the night. According to the Operation Dove volunteers, the wire netting, funded by ECHO (European Commission for Humanitarian Aid), UAWC (Union of Agricultural Work Committee) and Save the Children UK, was erected last March with the aim of protecting the crop by defining the borders of the agricultural land belonging to Palestinians and in response to the ongoing and rapid expansion of the nearby Ma’on settlement and Havat Ma’on outpost and, consequently, with the purpose of protecting the village from Israeli settlers raids.


- On 5 August, settlers from the Kiryat Arba settlement burned land in the area of Al-Buwayra as “payback” after Israeli soldiers demolished the outpost of Mitzpe Avihai. The Christian Peacemaker Teams denounced settlers’ response, which included placing boulders and glass on the Palestinian road and the burning of part of a grape field.


- On 6 August, three masked settlers from Giv’at Kharsina settlement, northeast of the city of Hebron, attacked and beat a group of internationals that came in solidarity with the farmers of Bowaira after settlers damaged their fields days before. The settlers stopped the internationals’ car, beat them and confiscated their camera. The settlers also beat a woman, Sozan Jameel Soltan, age 51, with stones. She sustained injuries to her head and hands and was later taken to Al-Ahali Hospital. When the farmers gathered, the Israeli army came but the settlers escaped to the nearby settlement Giv’at Kharsina.


- On 15 August, settlers from Tel Rumeida settlement beat a 10-year-old Palestinian girl. She was taken to the Hebron Government Hospital where medics said she was bruised all over her body.


- On 31 August, approximately 15 settlers –many of them armed– came from the Kiryat Arba settlement, east of Hebron, and attacked the house of the Younis Idrees family near the settlement. The event occurred in the evening. The Israeli army came and stopped the settlers. According to the family of Idrees, “the settlers broke into our house and threw sat ustones. The children were very afraid”.


Nablus and North of West Bank

- On 7 July, farmer Mohammed Khaleel Owaisa from the Alloban village, south of Nablus, was injured in the head when settlers stoned him as he worked his land. He was taken to the hospital for medical treatment. A few days before, in the same village, the settlers cut some trees near the village. The event happened in the afternoon.


- On 11 July, more than 400 settlers guarded by Israeli soldiers entered a village near Nablus, that Jews consider a holy place. The Palestinians were prevented from leaving the Orta village from Sunday evening to Monday morning.


- On 15 July, dozens of settlers from the Migdalim settlement burned the fields belonging to Palestinians from the Kasra village. The Israeli army came but did not intervene to stop the fire. Several dunams of land were destroyed.


- On 24 July, settlers set fire to land cultivated with olive trees in the Saffa village, near Ramallah. Eyewitnesses reported that the settlers burned the trees in full sight of Israeli soldiers, who prevented the residents and the fire brigades from entering the land and extinguishing the fire. Seven square kilometres of land were damaged.


- On 26 July, settlers stoned a number of Palestinian cars on the main road linking Ramallah and Nablus. Taxi-drivers reported to the AIC that since the morning the settlers had planned to throw stones at cars from many points on the main road. Some car windows and windshields were broken.


- On the same day, settlers from the Yitzhar settlement in the Nablus district, rioted near the Huwwara checkpoint, protesting against the decision to demolish settler mobile houses. As a “price tag”, the settlers burned olive trees belonging to Palestinian families in the area. In the evening, the settlers attacked for the second time that day. Dozens of armed settlers raided the village of Burin. Clashes erupted: two Palestinians, Rasim Abid Batouni, and Ibrahim Adil Eid were injured. Four settlers were also injured by stones thrown by Palestinians.


- On 30 July, around 20 settlers –some armed– came from the Bracha settlement, south of Nablus, and attacked the villagers in the Boreen village. The settlers came at noon and entered the village from the eastern road. They threw stones at the houses and burned agricultural fields at a the site called Jabal El Sabe’, east of the village. Clashes erupted between the settlers and the villagers, who gathered to defend themselves. The Israeli army came and opened fire on the residents. Three Palestinians were injured by rubber coated bullets and suffered from tear-gas inhalation.


- On 3 August, in the middle of the night, around 300 settlers came from numerous settlements in the northern West Bank by 20 buses and entered the area of Joseph`s Tomb, east of Nablus. The settlers came to the place guarded by the Israeli army. It is well-known that this tomb is under Palestinian Authority control, following the Israeli-Palestinian agreements in 2000. According to this agreement, the settlers haven’t the right to enter this site. However, settlers began to coming and staying in the place, saying that it is a holy site for Jews, most of the times with cooperation from the Israeli soldiers. Every time the settlers come, they attempt attacks against the residents, especially in the nearby village of Asker. They often also target the schools. The Palestinian Authority through the Waqef Ministry issued a statement condemning the attack and called for not allowing the settlers to come to the Joseph’s Tomb. The settlers left the area in the morning.


- On 6 August, settlers from the Itamar settlement burned around 150 dunams of land belonging to families from the Bait Foreek town, east of Nablus. The targeted place is called Al-Burj and is located to the east of the town. The arrival of the fire brigades from Nablus was delayed by the Israeli checkpoint and the bad conditions of the streets in the mountains. As a result, the area was completely burned. According to local sources and the Palestinian Settlement File in the northern districts, most of the land was planted with olive trees. This area had been a longtime target for the settlers, who are seeking to confiscate it and add it to the aforementioned settlement. The farmers who own land there face attacks from settlers, especially during the harvest season.


- On 16 August, settlers from Shvut Rachel settlement, in the southern Nablus district, uprooted 200 olive trees belonging to the family of Ali Abed El Hameed Hasan from Kasra village. The place where the aggression occurred is called Iqta’ Kamel and is located near the settlement. According to Ghassan Doughlas, director of Settlement File in the northern districts, the trees were planted some years before. The settlers came in the morning, uprooted and cut them. The aim of this attack is to take over the land for the settlement expansion.


- On 19 August, settlement guards prevented farmers from Awarta town, south of Nablus, from entering their land and working at the site called Alwadi Alsharqi. The farmers and many international solidarity groups gathered in the morning to work at the site, but the settlers called the settlement guards from Itamar, who came and threatened them, warning that they would shoot them if they did not leave. Physical clashes erupted, before the Israeli army came and declared the area a closed military zone, forcing the farmers and the internationals to leave. Hassan Awwad, Mayor of the town, reported, “the armed settlers came from the nearby settlement of Itamar. This land has been targeted many times from the settlers in order to confiscate it and to expand the aforementioned settlement. However, the farmers, in cooperation with international and Israeli activists, planned weekly initiatives to come and work the land. The site is hundreds of dunams, most of it planted with olive trees. We are used to suffering from settler attacks during the harvest season.”


- On 22 August, dozens of settlers from the outpost of Inhta, in the southern Nablus district, burned 20 dunams of olive trees belonging to families from the Jalood village. The site where the event occurred is called Khallit Abu Sharika.


- On 23 August, a group of settlers from Donan settlement, in the northern Tulkarem district, burned 5 dunams of olive trees belonging to families from the Khirbit El-Hamam village. According to local sources in the village, the settlers came to the village in two cars and occupied the roof of the house belonging to resident Mohammed El-Jalool for three hours. They later went down to the fields and burned the trees belonging to the same family.


- On 29 August, the settlers from the Alon Moreh settlement, east of Nablus District, leveled and damaged around two dunams belonging to the Dair El Hatab village. The settlers also brought 5 caravans and started to build on the leveled land. At the same time, settlers from the outpost of Shvut Gil’ad, west of Nablus, started establishing electricity and water nets on the land belonging to the residents from Sorra and Jet villages. According to Ghassan Doughlas, director of Settlement File in the northern districts, they started the work in the morning. “By this work dozens of dunams will be isolated and confiscated for the outpost needs,” he said.


- On 30 August, three Palestinians young people from Dair Isteya village were shot by settlers from the Amoneal settlement, in the southwest of the Salfeet District. The attack occurred in the morning when the young people were working their land. The settlers came and opened fire on them, but no one was injured and the Palestinians ran away. The young people are: Sharaf Daoud Obiad, age 18, Odai Azzam Obaid, age 18, and Yousef Aed El Qaisee, age 17. Ashraf reported that while “we were working our land in the site called Mugher Tawfeeq, west of our village, four settlers from Amoneal settlement came riding on horses. All of them were armed. When they reached us, they went down and shot at us. We escaped and hid among the rocks in the area and we later ran away.”


- On 31 August, tens of settlers gathered during the night on Jit Junction located on the main road linking Nablus and Qalqeelya. The settlers gathered and threw stones at Palestinian cars, breaking some windows. At the same time, other groups of settlers from many settlements in the north, especially from Bracha, Yitzhar and Itamar settlements, cut dozens of olive trees in the Boreen village, south of Nablus District. These actions and attacks occurred in retaliation to the killing of 4 settlers in the Hebron District by Hamas Military Brigades.





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