6th December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Khan al Luban, Occupied Palestine
On the 4th of December, Khalid Al-Sanih Daraghmah was working in his property when illegal settlers, Israeli border police and Israeli soldiers entered his farm to harass him, arrest him and confiscate his tractor.
In the late afternoon, settlers from the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona, two military jeeps with Israeli soldiers and two border police offices entered Khalid’s property while he and his son were working on the farm. The Israeli soldiers and police tried to force him to leave his property and when Khalid wasn’t willing to move away, they handcuffed him and placed him under arrest. After this incident occurred they tried to steal his tractor, and when his son tried to resist he was beaten by an Israeli border police officer. The tractor was taken to an unknown location.
The Israeli forces took Khalid to the nearest police station and after several hours Khalil was released, but only after his family paid a large fee. Khalil arrived back to his property at 9 pm in the evening.
When international activists attempted to travel to the farm, they were stopped by Israeli soldiers. They were formed by the soldiers that the area could be “dangerous” as they had arrested a Palestinian. After a period of time, international activists were allowed to pass.
In 2002 the Israeli High Court ruled that the land in Khan belongs to the family, but illegal settlers claim it is a public spring. For the past four years, Khalid al-Sanih Daraghmah and his family have faced regular attacks by Israeli settlers at their home in Khan, 2 kilometers south of the West Bank village of al-Luban.