By the ISM Media Team
July 5th, 2007. Iraq Burin, a village in the Nablus region, has been suffering from increasing harassment by the neighboring illegal colony of Brakha. Villagers, many of whom are farmers, have owned the land for generations and are being frequently threatened by armed colonists. Beatings and shootings of farmers who attempt to tend to their fields have terrorized the village, preventing them from utilizing their land and making a living. Colonists have often burned fields and cut down the farmers’ trees.
During harvest time, as the villagers labor to collect the olives for harvest, colonists descend upon the fields and steal the harvested crops under the protection of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). These illegal colonies are in violation of international laws prohibiting the occupation of land and the obstruction of the economy of an occupied people. Furthermore, the criminal behavior of the colonists are provocations of these peaceful people. The IOF consistently protects the colonists by the use of armed force against these unarmed villagers.
In response to these illegal acts, yesterday, the International Solidarity Movement planted 75 trees on land in Iraq Burin which had been subject to attacks by colonists and the IOF. Having obtained trees with the assistance of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees and the Tanweer Organization in Nablus, international activists worked in conjunction with local farmers to plant the trees. The planting finished without any disturbance by the colonists or IOF who were within view of the operation.