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Almond Tree Planting Interrupted by Israeli Soldiers

International Solidarity Movement

13 February 2010

Almond Tree Planting Interrupted by Israeli soldiers

Almond Tree Planting Interrupted by Israeli soldiers

Saturday morning around 9am, Palestinian residents of the Jubbet adh Dhib Village, south east of Bethlehem, were planting almond trees on their limited land when settlers from the nearby illegal outpost of Noqedim called the Israeli soldiers to stop them from doing so.

The soldiers arrived quickly, but didn’t do anything before their commander arrived half an hour later with a paper stating that the area was a closed military zone. Meanwhile, the settlers tried to herd their goats out on to the field, but the Palestinians verbally herded them back and demanded that the soldiers tell the settlers to leave the area as well. After another half an hour of discussion about who started the trouble and whose land this is, the soldiers made the settlers go back to their road and the Palestinians proceeded back to their village as well.

The village of Jubbet adh Dhib is surrounded by the settlements of Noqedim and Teqoa, which have been the target of many harassments from settlers and Israeli soldiers over the past several years. The villagers, who are denied electricity, had their water cut off one week ago and have only recently gained access to the only road that leads to the village.

The Noqedim settlement is home to Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, which the illegal outpost settlement economically benefits from.