Tag: Bruqin - Page 2 - International Solidarity Movement

Two Palestinians arrested in Bruqin

12th January 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Bruqin, Occupied Palestine

January 13th 2014:

Today, 13^th January 2014, the two men from Bruqin have been released from prison with a 2000 NIS bail each. Both men are under house arrest until the 24^th January and must report to Ariel police station, inside the illegal settlement of Ariel, every 48 hours.

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On Thursday, 9^th January 2014, two farmers from Bruqin, in Salfit district, were arrested by Israeli soldiers. 19-year-old Mohammad Baker and 29-year-old Jaad Baker, accompanied by his 4-year-old son and their 40 cows, entered their land to the west of Bruqin. The land between the village and the industrial area of the illegal settlement of Ariel belongs to villagers of Bruqin and the farmers use it for their sheep and cows.

At 11:30am Israeli forces entered the land, which is monitored by a surveillance camera, and arrested the two villagers. They were taken in handcuffs to a jeep nearby, leaving the 4-year-old boy alone in the field with the cattle. The soldiers refused to call any family members so that the boy could be brought home to the village. The Israeli forces held the farmers until 2:00pm on the road by the jeep. The men were arrested for entering a closing military zone. The soldiers searched them various times and kept them detained in handcuffs before transferring them to a prison in the illegal settlement of Ariel.

Later in the afternoon another family member heard from witnesses of the arrest and went to the field to take the boy home and to gather the cows. The boy is still traumatized.

Furthermore five of the forty cows remain missing. The villagers believe that settlers from the illegal settlement of Bruchin have stolen the cattle. Israeli police have refused to investigate, claiming that they have other issues to deal with.

On Saturday morning a police officer called the family to inform them that the prisoners are being held in Ariel and that tomorrow after the Jewish holiday they will be transferred to Haderim prison in Israel. A court hearing is due to be held on Monday, 13^th January in the military court in Salem. A lawyer is dealing with the case.

10 olives trees destroyed in Bruqin

25th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Bruqin, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday in the village of Bruqin, citizens found that approximately 10 olive trees had been severely damaged. The branches were cut with a saw and then pulled off by hand; this method can kill the tree if the damage is not immediately repaired.

The olive trees were 63-years-old and were planted in 1950. The trees’ owner relies solely on them for his livelihood. This is the first time since the occupation that he has been attacked. He has been frightened by the recent attack and fears for the future.

It is not known who damaged these trees, though villagers of Bruqin suspect that it was settlers from the illegal settlement of Bruchin. The villagers have had problems with Bruchin settlers in the past. Recently, a group of settlers fenced off a portion of Palestinian land, preventing the owner from accessing it. Settlers also built a settler-only road through a Palestinian olive grove.

The farmers have also had problems with the Ariel settlement. The factories in its industrial zone have built sewage pipes that lead directly to Palestinian land; this sewage pollutes the soil and harms the many olive trees planted there.

Army intimidate village ahead of an illegal land grab

26th August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Bruqin, Occupied Palestine

Today, Monday 26th August, Israeli occupation forces invaded the village of Bruqin in the early hours of the morning. The Israeli army then proceeded to enter twelve houses and arrest 11 young men from the village. The men were aged between 18 and 27 and they were held for 7 hours before being released at 10:00 this morning.

Mohanned, a 27-year-old music teacher was one of the young men arrested, alongside his brother, 25-year-old Hammed. The brothers and their whole family were awoken by the Israeli army entering their house at 02:30. The soldiers demanded to see the ID of all the men present and gave no reason for their commands or presence in the village. The situation was very similar for 24-year-old Feher, a builder who was arrested at 03:00. Mohanned, Hammed and Feher were removed from their homes, blindfolded and handcuffed, along with the other young men taken. The Israeli army was described as “aggressive but not violent” with no injuries sustained.

One resident of Bruqin described the invasion as “quiet” although there were at least 50 soldiers in 5 military jeeps and this was “very frightening for the villagers”. He then continued to state that he believed this was supposed to act as an intimidating warning to the people of Bruqin.

It does not seem unrelated that the village is currently at risk of losing 700 dunums of land to the nearby (illegal) settlement of Bruchin. The below picture highlights the areas that are at risk and the residents have been attempting to fight this illegal theft of vital farming land over the last two months. However in order to adhere to the court process, the residents must access their land to attain the correct measurements to supply to the court. However due to violent settler attacks many people are unable to enter their own land and as such the mayor of Bruqin has had to apply for permission on behalf of the Bruqin residents. He is awaiting confirmation and as yet Bruqin has no information on the state of their court battle for land they legally own.

Between the blue and yellow lines is the at risk land (Photo by ISM)i

All settlements in Palestine are illegal under international law and Bruchin is no exception. In 2012, the settler colony of Bruchin was “legalised” by the Israeli government, previously, even Israeli law classed Bruchin as an illegal outpost. Now that Bruchin has the “official” support of its own government, it is attempting to steal land from a number of villages to build 550 new settler homes. The residents of Bruqin, the legal owners of many of the dunums in question, are determined to fight this land grab, but many are apprehensive about repercussions from the Israeli army if they continue to resist. It seems apparent that from this morning’s action, their concerns are unfortunately justified.

Israeli army invade Bruqin village two days after prisoner release

19th August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Bruqin, Occupied Palestine

On Thursday 15th August, Israeli occupation forces entered the village of Bruqin in the early hours of the morning. Four jeeps full of soldiers made their way first into the valley, and then into the village itself. The Israeli army at first did not exit their vehicles; they stayed inside the village for approximately 15 minutes before leaving. After 40 minutes had passed the jeeps returned, once again waking the residents, and this time the soldiers entered Bruqin on foot. This night invasion shortly follows the release of Mustafa Othman al-Haj, one of the 26 prisoners released on Tuesday 13th August.

Residents were concerned that Mustafa would be re-arrested in the raid, having seen that one of the jeeps appeared to be carrying Shabak (Israeli intelligence) agents, who appeared to be referring to information on a computer as they patrolled around the village. “It is common that they re-arrest these released people, or come and give them a warning in the night” said one resident of Bruqin. It was also witnessed that soldiers were carrying devices used by the Israeli military to forcibly break down doors, although they were not used.

Welcoming released prisoners on 14th August 2013 in Ramallah (Photo by Activestills)

Mustafa is one of five men from Bruqin who was arrested and held by Israel for many years. A further man is due to be released in the coming months, another in the next year, with the final two residents remaining in prison. Although Mustafa is now a free man, his release is not without conditions, for the next 10 years he must abide by certain guidelines and for the next year he must remain in a specific area of the West Bank. His return to Bruqin caused considerable celebration as he had been imprisoned for over 24 years. However, there is much to be concerned about in Bruqin and indeed the whole of Occupied Palestine; according to Addameer (Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association) since the “peace” negotiations were announced on July 19th there have been over 200 arrests.

Bruqin itself is not unused to the injustice of occupation, currently the village is at risk of having 100 dunums of land stolen by an illegal settlement. The villagers of Bruqin have attempted to contest these plans in court but so far there attempts have been unsuccessful. All settlements are illegal under international law but this has not stopped the loss of Palestinian land, in Bruqin and the West Bank as a whole.

Note under a rock: “We’re stealing your land”

12th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Bruqin, Occupied Palestine

It was only days after it had been placed that a farmer accidentally found a piece of paper that stated he was no longer the owner of his own land. The undated paper, in Hebrew and Arabic, had been hidden under a rock in the farmer’s fields in the village of Bruqin, occupied Palestine. It said that the farmer’s land was being taken for the expansion of the nearby illegal Israeli settler colony of Ariel west.

This farmer was not the only one to be informed about a crime in such a way. More land owners, including the village’s mayor, received the same notifications. Additionally, this week the Jerusalem Post published an announcement that more than 500 new houses would be built on land stolen from Bruqin and its neighbouring villages Sarta and Kafr-ad-Dik (the article itself made no mention of the villages, implying they don’t exist). The exact number of dunums of land being stolen is not clear. Villagers have been given 60 days to file official complaints with the occupation authorities. New houses may be built any time now.

Area of land stolen from Bruqin, Sarta and Kafr-ad-Dik (Photo by Stop the Wall)

The illegal settler colony of Bruchin started off as a military base in 1999. Not long after, the first houses were built on a hilltop; today, there are around 50 of them, with some still standing empty. According to residents of Palestinian villages, those and any newly built houses will be free for incoming illegal settlers. This is one of the tricks the Israeli Apartheid state uses to increase the number of illegal settler colonisers in occupied Palestine: to provide them with free houses built on land stolen from its Palestinian owners.

All settler colonies in Palestine are illegal under international law. In 2012, the illegal settler colony of Bruchin was “legalised” as an “authorised settlement” by that same power that does not respect human rights nor international – or even its own – laws. The latest announced land theft in Bruqin, Sarta, and Kafr-ad-Dik is just another logical step in this crime.

Bruqin is situated 13 km west of the city of Salfit; the industrial zone of the illegal settler colony Ariel can be seen from the village, as is Bruchin. In addition to land theft, constant military invasions, settler and wild pig attacks, the village is under severe stress from sewage and untreated wastewater that is released from the settlement and its factories. Pumped underground, chemical wastewater contaminates local water resources and causes immense damage to the natural environment; the settler sewage river that runs through the village is just one example of such behaviour. Residents say that cancer cases in Bruqin are much higher than Palestinian average; children in particular are suffering.

The location of Bruqin, Sarta, and Kafr-ad-Dik, as well as other neighbouring villages, is strategically important: the Salfit Governorate boasts some of the most productive water zones of the Western Aquifer, a key water resource in Palestine. They also fall in the way of the “Ariel finger”, the Zionist project that intends to annex Palestinian land by connecting the many illegal settler colonies in the area into one big entity. It would also cut the West Bank in two, putting even more pressure on the Palestinian people.