On the evening of Friday August 24th humanitarian workers from groups including the ISM, CPT and B’tselem accompanied the Jabaari family to their farm located between the exclusively Jewish Kiryat Arba and Givat Harsina settlements, near the old city of Hebron.
For a number of months now, a tent erected by local settlers on part of the Palestinian family’s farm has been used as a synagogue. The Jabaari family claims that the tent and a pathway joining the settlements are illegal, and have shown deeds for the land to police in order to prove that they are the rightful owners. Despite this the police have not attempted to deconstruct either of the aforementioned structures, nor have they requested that the settlers leave the land.
Settler-built “Synagogue” on Jabaari Family Property
Six international activists joined ten Palestinians and two Israelis to farm the land and monitor the situation to ensure the safety of the workers from the armed settlers. The land was worked through the gathering of grass to feed the farmer’s goats from 17:30 to 19:45. In addition to that, a large amount of razor wire which had been placed on the land by the military on a previous occasion was successfully removed.
Soldiers harassed workers and humanitarian monitors who were helping to farm the land, forcing them to remain in certain areas which they were invited onto by the owners. Despite settler pressure on the farm laborers to end their work at the beginning of Shabbat, everyone involved remained non-violent throughout and successfully managed to finish their work. Despite this small victory, the family continues to face daily pressure from settlers who intend to annex their land in order to connect the two settlements.