Category: Nablus - Page 11 - International Solidarity Movement

Fifteen masked settlers attack olive field in Burin

24th november 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Burin, occupied Palestine

On November the 24th at approximately 10 am, fifteen masked settlers from the Yitzhar settlement near Burin, south of Nablus, rushed toward an olive field where four Palestinians and two internationals were harvesting.

Twenty minutes earlier, the Yitzhar security car, which is usually driven by the head of the settlement security Isaak Levy, was parked on the hilltop from which the fields could be observed. During the next twenty minutes, more settlers gathered on the hilltop and then ran, still in the presence of the settlement security, towards the field, causing Palestinians and internationals to gather olives, tarps and ladders and flee.

15 masked settlers attacking olive field. — 15 masked settlers attacking olive field in the presence of the settlement security .

Further down the hill, another farmer reported that he could see the settlers uphill breaking off branches from the trees and starting a fire, but Israeli forces prevented the farmers from reentering the field, claiming that the permit for entering the field to harvest was not valid until Saturday.

Israeli forces preventing Palestinians from reentering the field.

The olive field was also attacked earlier this month, on November 2nd, when settlers entered the land and started a fire on the grass next to the olive fields. As in virtually all cases, the settlers committed the crime without being held accountable.

On a neighboring field, five masked settlers from the illegal Yitzhar settlement on October 31st attacked the olive field in the presence of both Israeli forces and Levy.

Levy’s presence has been noticed on numerous occasions just prior to and during violent settler attacks on internationals and Palestinians.

Trees burned in the fire started by settlers on November 2nd. — Trees burned in the fire ignited by settlers on November 2nd.

Settlers from Yitzhar attack boys’ school in Burin and scare students

24th November 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus-team | Burin, occupied Palestine

On Sunday at 10 am, November 22th, approximately twenty settlers from Yitzhar settlement attacked a boys’ school in the village of Burin, south of Nablus. According to local officials, the settlers attempted to raid and attacked the school with stones.

Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported that the group of settlers gathered near the school and proceeded to pelt it with stones in an apparent attempt to raid it. WAFA also reported that the village locals gathered near the school to fend off the settlers’ attack, after which soldiers arrived at the scene and proceeded to attack locals, leading to clashes in which Israeli forces reportedly shot live ammunition and rubber coated steel bullets. The settlers dispersed without being detained or arrested.

Earlier the same day, human rights defenders picking olives in the area noticed a group of settlers gathering near the road leading to Yitzhar settlement. They seemed to be observing the school from a distance, possibly preparing for the attack an hour later.

The village of Burin is trapped between Yitzhar and Bracha settlements, and together with the settlements’ steady expansion come grave concerns about increased settler violence and restricted access to Palestinian lands. Settlers attacking schools and olive farmers and the presence of military forces contribute to the impact on the mental and physical health of Palestinians, including children.

Israeli authorities routinely fail to provide security for Palestinians and to take adequate law enforcement measures to prevent escalating settler violence. The failure in this case to hold settlers accountable for their violent acts follows a common pattern whereby they are allowed to engage in criminal behavior with complete impunity.

Settlers gathering to observe the school from distance.

The building housing boys in the age of 10-12 in which settlers attacked.

Israeli forces observing the school after the attack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4RN1GK-940&app=desktop[/youtube]

Video footage showing Israeli forces shooting towards students and locals.

Palestinian teenager killed and woman critically injured after being shot in the head at Huwwara checkpoint

Yesterday, November 23rd, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager at the Huwwara checkpoint south of Nablus. Samah Abd al-Mumen Ahmad, a Palestinian woman who was shot in the head in the crossfire as she drove past the scene, is currently in the hospital in critical condition.

The incident occurred only 24 hours after the last killing at the checkpoint, where a 16 year old Palestinian girl was run over and then shot dead by a prominent Israeli settler. Taha Ahmad Qatanani from Nablus was run over and shot by Gershon Mesika, the former head of the “Samaria regional council” which represents the illegal settlements in the northern West Bank.

Bypassing car in which the woman was shot in the head. — Car in which the woman was shot in the head.

In response to the events on November 22nd, the Israeli army forced all shops and restaurants in the village of Huwwara to shut down until the following morning. The forced closing of shops is a frequent occurrence in the occupied West Bank, and a Israeli soldier in the village described the action as “collective punishment” when asked about the reason by an ISM volunteer.

Furthermore, residents of Nablus trying to pass the checkpoint were only allowed to enter, but not leave, the city. The checkpoint is crossed by route 60 which connects Nablus with the central and southern West Bank. Route 60 is one of the only roads in the West Bank used by both Israeli settlers and Palestinians.

Israeli forces at the scene where a 16 year old Palestinian was killed. — Israeli forces at the scene where a Palestinian teenager was killed on the 23rd.

Once again, Israeli forces raid Nablus homes

19th november 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara team | Tell, occupied Palestine

Early morning today, November 19th, at around 1:30 am, Israeli forces raided approximately twenty homes in the village of Tell, Nablus, destroying furniture, televisions and other household items. Mohammed, 73 year old citizen of Tell, describes that soldiers were shooting tear gas, live ammunition and stun grenades, injuring two youths by live ammunition after clashes erupted in the area.

Ransacked home in the village of Tell, Nablus (photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/Tal.village.for.all/)

Furthermore, nine men were arrested without any charges and six men were asked to go to the Israeli security on the following day for security check. The nine men were all released six hours after the arrests.

“These random night raids are a way of scaring the people and demonstrating the occupier’s superiority” states Monther Ishtaya, the mayor of Tell village. He continues: “Also, the night raids are part of the training of new soldiers as well as for the newly appointed local leader of Shabak (Israel’s internal security service)”.

As the village Tell is part of area A, Israeli occupation forces have to coordinate – under the terms of the so-called ‘security coordination’ of the Oslo accords – their entry of the village with Palestinian Authority. According to the mayor, the reality, however, is that PA many times is either not informed or only informed shortly before Israeli forces enter the area.

According to the mayor, Israeli forces enter the village sometimes on a daily basis in order to check people on the street, do night raids and other so-called ‘security measures’. Since the beginning of October, 15 youths have been arrested, many of them sentenced for 6 months and/or forced to pay fines of several thousands shekels.

During the same night, in the village of Kafr Ad-Deak, Salfit, more than hundred Israeli soldiers invaded the village and raided and ransacked 15 houses in the As-Suqqiya area. In addition, they put up posters around the village stating that stone throwing will imply retaliation and punishment. Verbally the soldiers expressed to the villagers, that stone throwing would imply being shot.

Poster put up in Kafr Al-Deak threatening stone throwers (Photo credit: Murad Samara)

Palestinians banned from land as Route 60 expands

17th november 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara team | Burin, occupied Palestine

ķ The Israeli forces came to the family’s field

On monday morning, Mahmoud Yasser Eid, a 22 year-old palestinian from the village of Burin, was stopped by the Israeli forces as he went to pick olives with his mother, near the Huwwara checkpoint. The land, that the family has been harvesting for three years along with another family, is located between route 60 from Ramallah to Nablus, and the road leading to the Bracha illegal settlement. The family did not get a permit to harvest this year : “they don’t want us to work near this road because of the situation. They say it’s for safety”, said Mohammed, Mahmoud’s older brother. The family tried to access their land anyway, as olives are an important income to the family of nine children. “People here need the olives”, added Mohammed.

The Israeli forces came at around 8 am, as the mother and son were having breakfast in the field. They controlled and searched Mahmoud and made them both sit there for a few hours while they searched all their belongings. Mahmoud’s mother, Raeda, cried until the soldiers accepted not to arrest her son. They warned him that they would come to arrest him at his house if he tried to access the field again. “We didn’t sleep that night !” said Mahmoud.

During the last three years, the Yasser family was allowed to harvest on this field, but this year they were not granted permission to do so. A neighbour who was picking olives in his field nearby saw the scene and said “they [the israeli army] don’t want anyone to go to this land anymore”. The family thinks that they won’t be allowed to harvest the olives on their land in the next few years, as it is strategically located a few meters away from the main road, route 60, between Ramallah and Nablus, and near the Huwwara checkpoint.

The project of expanding part of route 60 to a wider road, with a financiel help from the US Aid, could explain the difficulties faced by Mahmoud’s family to access their land. The construction, that has already started, will make the road from Yizhar junction (west of Huwwara) to the palestinian village of Beita (east of Huwwara), through the town of Huwwara, a 21-meters wide road. This would lead to an even more limited access to the surroundings of the road for palestinian locals. “Some land might be taken by Israel”, carefully said Raed, from the Burin village council. The situation is already complicated at the moment for the villages close to route 60, and especially for Huwwara, a rare example of palestinian village crossed by a road used by both israeli settlers and Palestinians, that is under permanent surveillance from the Israeli forces.

The “bypass-roads system”, was thought to enable “access to settlements and travel between settlements without having to pass through Palestinian villages”, according to a Bet’selem research from 2004. It has become a way to reinforce apartheid within the West Bank. According to the study from the Israeli organization, many of these roads had as a goal to refrain palestinian villages from expanding. And it had indeed refrained them.