Tag: Burin - Page 10 - International Solidarity Movement

Four days of settler violence in Burin and the Nablus area

03 April 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

On Friday afternoon at around 4.30 pm, three young men from the village of Burin, south of Nablus, were attacked by two settlers while picking “akoob” (a plant used in cooking) in the mountains. The men were around 200 meters away from the illegal settlement of Bracha when two settlers attacked them by throwing stones. Ten minutes later, 35 more masked settlers, two of them carrying M16 rifles, came down to attack the three men. When the villagers of Burin came to protect the men by throwing stones, settlers started firing live ammunition at them, forcing them to hide behind rocks.

One settler shouted at the villagers, in Arabic: “We should burn you, you are rubbish!”

At approximately 5.30 pm, one hour after the settlers had arrived, the Israeli army came and forced the villagers to leave their land, while the settlers were allowed to stay.

Again, yesterday at around 10.30 am, five villagers were attacked by settlers while they were constructing a house. 18 settlers, of whom two were carrying guns, attacked the workers by throwing stones at them and their tractors and prevented them from doing their work. The workers called the Red Cross and asked them to call the Israeli army to come and stop the settlers. Around 30 minutes later the army came, but the settlers had already left. When the villagers told the soldiers what have happened, the soldiers called them liars, telling them that the settlers would never attack on a Saturday since it is the holy day for Jewish people.
Then at around 4 pm, the settlers came back and attacked the workers again, throwing stones at them and their families. Again by the time the military had come, the settlers were already gone, and instead of helping the villagers, the soldiers prevented the workers from driving their tractors to get water and soil some 100 meters up the road, threatening to shoot them.

Today at 9.30 am around 30 settlers, of whom three were carrying guns, attacked the five workers once again with stones. 30 minutes later, the Israeli army arrived with four military jeeps, but as in the previous incidents, the settlers had left just before the army came. The two houses under construction belong to the two brothers Zeid and Ghassan Amran. Their family have been under constant attack since they started to build the first house last year. Ghassan Amran lives with his family in one of the houses, he is scared that something will happen to his children, three boys aged three, seven and eight years old.

The village of Burin is surrounded by the illegal Israeli settlements of Bracha in the north, and Yitzar in the south. The settlers make regular visits to the village and in previous incidents have destroyed olive trees, stolen and shot animals, set crops and houses and cars on fire, destroyed homes, shot at people with live ammunition and fired rockets at the village.

In other similar incidents in the Nablus area, according to Ma’an News Agency, Imad Husni Salahat, 47, was severely beaten by settlers in Kawkab Salah near the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Efrayim yesterday. The same day, settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzar destroyed water pipes south of the village of Madama.

Also, on the night between Wednesday and Thursday, in the village of Aqraba, south east of Nablus, 400 olive trees that had been planted three months earlier, were uprooted and stolen by settlers from the illegal settlement of Itamar. The week before 300 olive trees were uprooted and three wells were destroyed in a settler attack on the village land.

Settlers set two cars on fire in Burin

24 February 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Settlers came down from the illegal Israeli settlements of Bracha and Yitzar thuesday night and harassed families in the village of Burin.

Around 7 o’clock in the evening settlers attacked a family that live near the Yitzar settlement, throwing red paint on their house. At about the same time settlers entered the village throwing stones and harassing the villagers. The settlers then got escort back to their homes by the Israeli Army.

At midnight settlers came back, throwing molotov cocktails at two cars, setting them on fire. Both of the cars were parked on in front of the houses of their owners.

One of the cars belongs to Abdeel Aleem Shuhade. He purchased his car just two days earlier, because the previous car was also burned and destroyed by the settlers. In 2002 his brother was shot and killed by settlers in his home and his wife that was pregnant at the time was injured.

Waleed Najar, the owner of the second car, reported the incident to the Israeli police, who then accused him of setting his own car on fire.

Attacks like this are common in Burin, to date 13 cars have been burned by settlers.

Burin is a small farming community located 7km southwest of Nablus. Former incidents in the village include settlers destroying olive trees, stealing and shooting animals, setting crops and houses on fire, destroying homes, shooting at people with live ammunition and firing rockets at the village.

On 27th January, 20-year old Oday Maher Hamza Qadous was killed by settlers from the same settlement whilst farming between the villages of Burin and Iraq Burin.

Settlers attack Burin olive farmers

16 October 2010 | International Solidarity Movement

Today farmers in Burin, a village located south of Nablus, were forced to abandon their olive harvesting when about one hundred settlers came down to their fields. The settlers came from the illegal settlement of Bracha, Yitzhar and from the outpost located on another hilltop. Villagers reported that the settlers threw rocks and shot slingshots, aiming to hit the farming families and children. One farmer was hit by a rock that caused a bleeding injury. The settlers also verbally harassed the Palestinians, shouting statements such as “This is not your land, go to Jordan” or insults to the Prophet Mohammed.

The families left their farmland, and other villagers returned to the hill of Burin where the attack took place. There was little they could do to help, other than bring the bags of olives to safety. 20 minutes later the Israeli army arrived with 8 jeeps, after being contacted by the Palestinian District Coordination Office (DCO), and the settlers retreated towards Bracha and the outpost. Apparently, the soldiers detained one of the most violent settlers.

The villagers of Burin have been suffering from settler attacks for many years. Settlers have come down several times in the last few months, setting fire to hundreds of olive trees to ruin an essential part of the farmers’ income. Farmers have had their olives stolen after spending hours picking and preparing them in sacks. Several people have been injured by rocks thrown by settlers; in September a man had to be taken to the hospital after being hit by a rock. The olive harvest is a dangerous and critical time for many farmers in the area as settlers known for their ideological extremism use violence to keep the Palestinian farmers away from their own land.

Palestinians attacked by armed settlers in Burin

9 October 2010 | ISM Media

Burin, near Nablus

People from the village of Burin were attacked by 20 settlers, 5 of which had guns. They wanted to make a road leading up to the house of one of the villagers, Bilal Eid. that is on the top of a hill inside the small village of 3500 inhabitants. Just as the bulldozer started working, about 20 settlers went down from the illegal settlement of Givat Arozi, shouting and throwing stones at the bulldozer. Five of them were carrying guns.

The villagers called the Israeli DCO (District Coordination Office) to ask them to prevent the violence. Shortly after, one car with representatives from the DCO arrived on the spot together with soldiers.

When they saw the DCO and the soldiers, the settlers went quickly back towards the settlement. While retreating they were throwing stones to a house and destroyed about 12 olive trees by cutting them. When they cut the trees the villagers took photos to show to the DCO representatives, who did not show any interest. However nearby solders could easily have prevented this violence, but did nothing to stop the settlers.

The village of Burin is surrounded by four illegal settlements. The settlers intend to settle in what is left of Burins land, to connect the already existing settlements. The villagers have been suffering from regular settler attacks for many years. The mentioned house that the new road is leading up to had to be emptied five years ago, when settlers attacked it. While the family was still living there, one day about 100 settlers broke into the house, forced them out and stole everything – including the door and windows. The owner of the house now lives with his wife and four children in a small house inside the village, since they live in constant fear of a new attack. The action today was the first step to reclaim their house, by rebuilding and constructing a road leading to their house.

Settlers riot in Burin, shooting and setting fire to olive trees

27 July 2010 | International Solidarity Movement

Fire engines struggle to control the blaze in the olive groves of Burin

At 11:30 yesterday, 26th July 2010, settlers from the Berakha Shomronim settlement began shooting at Palestinians in the village of Burin and setting fire to crops on their land.

Trouble flared when Israeli authorities ordered the demolition of a structure in an illegal settler outpost because of the freeze on settlement construction. Israeli police failed to contain the settler riot which followed and closed Huwara checkpoint, near Nablus, in response.

The village of Burin covers 1500 dunams and about 3000 olive trees are planted on this land. Much of this was destroyed yesterday after fires were lit by a group of approximately 120 settlers and then spread to the next village of Kafr Qalil. The Palestinian fire services arrived to help the villagers who were attempting to put out the the flames with olive branches.

International activists from ISM arrived in Burin to report on the incident but were quickly and forcefully dragged away by Border Police, who took their passports and stated that “there was nothing to see here”. Later they were told that it was unsafe because the settlers were armed – but according to a local witness, Ahmed from Iraq Burin, the Border Police were acting as security for the settlers and preventing an ambulance from entering the area.

The ambulance was called after two Palestinians were injured. Reports received by ISM allege that these injuries were sustained from being shot at by settlers. At present we have been unable to verify this, the identity of the victims, or reports that this morning one person died in hospital from their wounds. Both ISM and EAPPI members are conducting further interviews and photography on the scene.

There were also reports of settlers smashing the windows of houses and cars, and throwing stones in the village of An Nabi Saleh in the Ramallah region.