6 December 2009
In the village ‘Einabus south of Nablus, three settlers caused severe damage to Palestinian property, setting a Palestinian house and several cars on fire in the early hours of Sunday, 6 December.
In total two tractors were completely destroyed by the fire, as well as one car and a mini-bus. The lower part of a Palestinian house was also destroyed, causing severe damage to the upper part of the house as well. As a result of the fire, cracks appeared in the walls and the ceiling and windows were broken. The furniture in the house as well as the bathroom have been left unusable. The house is constructed in a way that connects it to several other houses. If the fire was not stopped in time it would have spread to the other houses, causing a widespread damage.
The father of the family living in the house told an international activists who visited the village in the aftermath of the incident: “In the middle of the night, three settlers in a Subaru came driving to the village. First they put two tractors on fire, then the car and then the house. I saw them driving away. My house is completely destroyed, and I don’t know how much it will cost to fix it. We live in a constant fear of the settlers from Yitzhar, most of the villagers are farmers and we face harassment and violence from the settlers very often. My children were terrified when they understood that our house was put on fire and we had to leave it in the middle of the night. Even I was so scared, you have no idea, it will take days before I get this incident out of my system – who wouldn’t feel frightened and get nightmares from such a horrible experience?”
This attack follows a chain of violent incidents towards the people, property and land in the Palestinian villages nearby, conducted by settlers from the Yitzar settlement last week.