Tag: Arson Attack

Illegal settlers burn infant alive in attack of a Palestinian house in the village of Duma

1st August 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Duma, Occupied Palestine

Hebrew graffiti that was spray painted on the family home. It reads "revenge." — Hebrew graffiti that was spray painted on the family home. It reads “revenge.”

At 2:30 in the morning, on Friday July 31st, a group of settlers came into the village of Duma to set fire to a family’s home with molotov cocktails while the family was sleeping.

According to the village’s mayor, Abu Alam, the villagers woke up suddenly in the middle of the night by the screams of their neighbors. In 15 minutes, the whole house was set on fire with the family inside. Within 3 minutes, both parents and 4 year old, Ahmad, managed to escape running out the street while they were burning in flames.

One of the rooms in the house, completely destroyed by the fire.

The mother’s first reaction was to rush after her 1 and a half year old baby, Ali Dawabsheh, grab him wrapped between his blankets and run out the house with him in her arms. But to her great shock, in the panic and confusion of this terrible act of violence, only once she was out the house she realized that Ali was not her arms.

The neighbors of the village quickly reacted by trying to turn off the flames with hoses and any means possible and ran into the house to try to rescue the baby, but the flames had gone out of control and their child could not be saved.

In the room of baby Ali, with photos of him.

Both parents and their son Ahmad were immediately taken in a villager’s car to the Hospital of Rafidia in the city of Nablus, while the fire truck arrived from the village of Burin 40 minutes later, as well as an ambulance from the village of Akraba. When the firefighters finally entered the house they found the baby had died burned in his cradle.

What used to be the crib of baby Ali, now completely destroyed.

Because of this the mayor is now discussing with the Palestinian Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah, the need to create a fire station in Duma since the nearest fire station is in the village of Burin, 40 km away.
Duma is a village surrounded by illegal settlements with a very violent history. Abu Alam explained to ISM that there is a well-known group of terrorists coming from settlements who in many occasions have attacked farmers and shepherds. Furthermore they have attacked the village, burned cars, cut down numerous olive trees and have been writing graffiti in Hebrew. He has no doubt that they are behind last night’s arson attack.

This is not a one-time attack on the village and the Palestinians but a recurring result of the settlers’ violence and harassing against the village. It is a continuous attempt from the terrorist settlers to create fear and insecurity among the villagers as well as throughout the whole Palestine. Being attacked in your own house sends the message to the Palestinian villagers, that there is nowhere they can be safe.

It is important to note that whenever Palestinians go to the Israeli authorities to complain on these abuses, the authority gives no answers. This given the fact that all the settlements and surrounding roads are filled with surveillance cameras, which means Israeli authorities are fully aware of all these incidents of violence. Nevertheless, these authorities never prevent nor give a response to these attacks.

houseeeee — Benjamin Netanyahu’s press release, in which he expresses his sympathies with the attacked family, sounds extremely hollow and hypocritical when the Israeli government openly supports the continuous expansion of illegal settlements. It is created in an attempt to make the attack seem like a one-time incident, when in reality it is a result of the continuous occupation of Palestine.

Video – Israeli settlers torch Hebron family’s property for eighth time

29th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

On Sunday, July 28, Israeli settlers severely burned land belonging to Hani Abu Haikel and his family in Hebron. Occupation soldiers, though at first trying to help stop the fire, ended up blocking the road so that Palestinian firefighters were delayed in reaching the scene. Several very old olive trees were destroyed in the fire which swept over immense swathes of land very quickly. In the video below, Hani Abu Haikel speaks about the incident and how Israeli settlers, soldiers and police work together to pressure Palestinian families to leave the Israeli-controlled H2 district of occupied Hebron.

Flames tear through one of Abu Haikel’s oldest olive trees (Photo by Christian Peacemaker Teams)

The previous evening, July 27th, Israeli police came to Hani Abu Haikel’s house and questioned him about a variety of subjects including whether he has any plans of leaving the area, to whicb he answered in the negative. Apparently this questioning is a regular occurrence. Israeli soldiers have also arrested Abu Haikel and his children on spurious charges, later releasing them without charge. The soldiers continue to regularly detain and interrogate members of the family.

Yesterday afternoon Abu Haikel saw settlers present in the area of the Israeli military base. As this is a common thing for them to do, he thought nothing of it at first. However, after this Abu Haikel saw the settlers spray water all over the small plot they have illegally cultivated on his land, right beneath the military base. He then saw them spray another, apparently flammable chemical over his land – soon after this, his land was on fire. Observers noted that Israeli soldiers were obstructing people from reaching the scene to help. Palestinian fire engines were prevented from reaching the scene for at least half an hour, allowing the fire to spread rapidly and scorch the land, despite volunteers passing buckets of water between them to try to quell the flames.

Israeli settler children stand laughing on the partially scorched wall just above their untouched plot of illegally cultivated land (Photo by Christian Peacemaker Teams)

The only part of the Abu Haikel land that wasn’t completely scorched was the small plot cultivated by Israeli settlers. Hani Abu Haikel explained that this is the eighth time settlers have burned his property, including an incident ten years ago when they burned all of his trees, meaning that many of the trees that were burnt this time were very young. It has taken him these ten years to effectively replant his land again and now, again it will be years before his land is as it was before this crime.

Arson attack on Asira village by illegal settlement of Yitzhar

30th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Asira, Occupied Palestine

At 1.30pm today, 30th May, thirty settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar trespassed on to land above the village of Asira, lighting fires and throwing rocks at around seventy villagers who came to extinguish the flames and defend their village. Israeli military and Border Police cooperated with the settlers whilst standing in front of them, firing teargas and blocking the Palestinians and fire service from putting out the spreading fires that in total burned 200 dunams of village land over the course of two hours.

Settlers from Yitzhar throwing rocks at villagers from Asira while Israeli army looks on

After setting fire to the village land above Asira the settlers then stood and threw rocks at any villagers who came near. Several youth from Asira were injured after being hit by rocks during the attack. Twenty five Israeli soldiers and Border Police were present at the scene throughout the course of events. Countless times the settlers ran down the hill towards the villagers throwing rocks and the army stood by or attempted to prevent the villagers from standing their ground and stopping the settlers from entering the village. In attempts to disperse the villagers the army threw sound bombs and shot tear gas into the stationary crowd.

The villagers could only stand and watch as their land containing olive trees and wheat crops burned in front of them. A tractor with a front end loader was visible at the nearby military outpost digging a trench around it to prevent the fire spreading into the outpost with no consideration taken for the many dunams of village land ignited. At 3pm the settlers turned and ran back up the hill whilst the army stood in front of the villagers threatening them with their guns.

Once the settlers had vacated the area, the villagers were still prevented from putting out the fire on their land. In desperation the villagers began to harvest wheat that was in danger of being burned. Another ten minutes passed before the army began putting out the fire themselves and then allowed the Palestinian Fire Brigade to complete the job. In total over 200 dunams of land had been burnt across land owned by the village of Asira and on to that of the neighbouring village of Urif.

Security employed by the illegal settlement of Yitzhar was also present, parking their truck with three Israeli Military army jeeps, observing the attack from above. This assault comes a month after a violent settler attack on Asira and neighbouring villages of Urif and Burin in retaliation for stabbing of a settler from Yitzhar settlement. Yitzhar is considered the most violent of settlements in the West Bank by the UN.

Asira and the other villages which surround the illegal settlement of Yitzhar face daily violence from its Zionist settlers. Palestinians are regularly injured, schools are frequently attacked, agricultural land it often set alight and residential homes are often damaged. The Israeli army also frequently raid the villages, often in the middle of the night, to search houses and make wanton arrests, often of children. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention collective punishment is a war crime.

Asira villagers try to harvest crops before they are burnt in fires set by settlers

Settlers set ground on fire in Salman Valley, Burin [Update: Video added]

By Stephen Alexander November 6th 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Today at around sundown, settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar set fire to the ground in the Salman valley in Burin. The fire was in the same location where two ISMers and two members of the Michigan Peace Team (MPT) had been picking olives only hours before in the Najjar family groves.

The fire service attended and with the help of around 10-15 villagers the fire was finally put out after about 90 minutes. The inability of the fire truck to reach that part of the slope meant that the fire needed to be put out by beating it down with shovels. While it burned it devastated both upper slopes of the valley and destroyed some olive trees in the valley as well as at least one tree on the upper slope belonging to the Najjar family.

This small village of approximately 3,000 people deal with a constant threat of settler attacks and Israeli army harassment. Two illegal settlements and one illegal outpost surround Burin: Yitzhar, Bracha, and Givt Arousa. The residents of these illegal colonies make it clear that they will do whatever it takes to force the Palestinians out of their homes. Their criminal acts range from burning olive trees, to shooting home made rockets at the village. In 2011, approximately 4000 trees were destroyed, burned and uprooted, by the settlers’ violence.

Stephen Alexander is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed)

In Photos: The devastation of the Price Tag campaign in Bruqin

by Amal

8 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The smell of fire and sorrow was evident in Bruqin today, which is located to the west of Salfit in the northern area of the West Bank. Even eight hours later the feeling of loss populated the air. At approximately 2:30 AM a group of settlers entered the village and set fire to a mosque, a bulldozer, and a car.

The toll on Bruqin – Click here for more images

Israeli police and soldiers documented the attack, but claimed that they did not know who committed it. Many people are skeptical due to the fact that the roads coming into Bruqin are secured and monitored by soldiers and cameras. This was another attack to make life miserable for the Bruqin people. It has been targeted by settlers and Israeli soldiers many times, so the people are certain that this attack will not be the last.

The mosque was saved by the villagers. They came out in time to stop the fire as it reached the front door. The settlers did not leave the mosque in flames, but also marked it with words in Hebrew showing their loyalty to the illegal Ariel settlement. Unfortunately, Bruqin is surrounded by four major illegal settlements.

The criminals managed to completely destroy a brand new bulldozer. The owner, Ali Sabar, purchased the bulldozer last week with a down payment of 19,000 NIS. Ali will spend the next 12 months trying to pay the remaining balance of 60,000 NIS. This violent act not only violated the Sabar family’s human rights, but has devastated any hope of prosperity for them. Ali stated that insurance will not cover the damages because “this is an attack and not an accident.”

The state of the Samara family’s car is immobile just like Ali’s bulldozer. The car is totally useless, just another casualty of the Israeli Occupation. The only thing that was not ruined in the car was a copy of the Quran.

Bruqin is in Israeli controlled Area C. Israeli Apartheid laws allow for any construction in Area C to be demolished if the Israeli Army orders it. The odds are against the people of Bruqin, yet hope was still present today. The Mosque still continued the call for prayer, and although they could not pray inside they still gathered together with hope.

Many commented that the Quran was only spared due to the binding of it, while others will credit their faith. Nonetheless, the Bruqin people are using this to increase their hope and strengthen their resilience.

Amal is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).