Tag: Burin

Settlers destroy 18 olive trees Burin

 By Alex Marley

11 September 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Eighteen Palestinian-owned olive trees were destroyed by Israeli settlers in the village of Burin, near Nablus, when the illegal settlers attacked the Palestinian land on Tuesday 4 September 2012. Burin, located in the northern West Bank, comes under frequent attack from the illegal settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha that encircle the village.

One of Nasser Qadous’ olive trees lays destroyed after settlers from Yitzhar attacked

Under the cover of dark,  settlers from Yitzhar entered the olive grove of the Nasser Qadous family and began cutting the branches from his trees. This is not the first attack on his land. Two years ago, the settlers burned his land, which consists of 5 dunums. The following morning Nasser Qadous arrived in the olive grove and found all his olive trees destroyed. After one hour the Israeli army, police, and The District Coordination Office (DCO) arrived at his land. They spoke with Nasser but he says that they have taken no action to find those responsible.g

Olive Tree sits destroyed on Nasser Qadous’ list

Background:

Located  7 kilometers southwest of Nablus, Burin is home to 3000 residents. From every position within the village you can see evidence of the Zionist occupation. Three of the most volatile Israeli settlements within the West Bank, Yitzhar, Bracha and Givat Arous reside on the hilltops of Burin. Yitzhar is the largest of the three settlements and was founded in 1984. Yitzhar consists of 1233 dunams and according to Peace Now, 35 per cent of the land is privately owned Palestinian land. The villagers in Burin are predominantly farmers and the fields that surround the village full of olives trees are testament to this. However, the land has been under threat since the start if the occupation in 1967.

Yitzhar settlement is notorious for its fanatically ideological residents, the violence they inflict on neighboring Palestinian communities, and the extremist doctrines they espouse. Settlers have frequently launched attacks with rocks, knives, guns and arson on Palestinian families and property in the area. In one of the most extreme act of terrorism students of the Yitzhar Od Yosef Hai yeshiva fired homemade rockets on Burin in 2008.

Despite West Banks settlements’  status as illegal under international law, Yitzhar was included in the Israeli governments’ recent “national priority map” as one of the settlements earmarked for financial support. Construction has continued unabated in both Yitzhar and Bracha. Yitzhar and Bracha also receives significant funding from American donations, tax-deductible under U.S. government tax breaks for ‘charitable’ institutions.

 

Alex Marley is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Night raids and arrests continue in Burin

By Alma Reventos

25 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Thursday August 23, Mumen Mahmoud Raja, 18, was arrested at his home by Israeli occupation forces at 2:30 a.m.

Around 2 a.m., some 60 Israeli forces invaded the Palestinian village of Burin, located south-west of Nablus. They arrived in 6 military jeeps, a truck, and 16 individuals by foot from the illegal colony of Givat Arosha, located atop a hill near the village, Mumen’s father estimates. 20 soldiers entered Mumen’s house, waking his family, including his 8 year old brother.

“We thought they wanted to arrest our other son, Montser, 19, who was arrested three months ago for 10 days. But then the soldiers began to demand Mumen, and took him away,” Mumens father recounts.

Mumen Mahmoud Raja

This family, like most families in Burin, endures the arrests of their children without being given a reason for their detention. At 3 a.m., the soldiers left the house after checking the identity of the remaining family members.

“It is the first arrest now that Ramadan is over, and we believe there will be more in the coming weeks,” says Ghassan Najjar, resident of Burin.

Since January 2012, Israeli forces have arrested 35 young men in Burin in night raids. Currently 16 of them are still imprisoned, aged between 15 and 32 years. Three of the current prisoners are minors; Walid Eid, 16, Eid Maomen, 16, and Qais Omran, 17.

Burin has been subject to many arrests on a daily basis for the past several years. The village is surrounded from all directions by three illegal Israeli settlements: Yitzhar, Bracha, and Givat Arosha. The Israeli military often patrols through the village at night raiding homes, and arresting members of Palestinian families without indicating a reason. The harassment and arrest of Burin’s youth, particularly those with a connection to the youth community centre in the village, is common.

Alma Reventos is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Sleepless nights in Burin

By Alma Reventós

25 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

“I have not slept all night.” The words of a young man from the Bilal Al-Najjar youth cultural center in Burin, after a night of raids by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on the town.

On Monday 23 July at 9:30 p.m., some 20 IOF military jeeps entered Burin, a village of 3,000 inhabitants located southwest of the city of Nablus. The Israeli military closed all entrances to the town, isolating it during the invasion. Burin’s residents are accustomed to such raids on a weekly basis, but usually they occur much later at night. This time, as the military entered Burin, many residents of the town were still outdoors and encountered the IOF jeeps on their streets.

 During the invasion, soldiers repeatedly fired tear gas in the center of Burin, even inside of residents’ homes. A woman of 65 had to be evacuated by ambulance to hospital in Nablus after suffering suffocation from the gas.

Accompanying the military were 5 Israeli settlers from a nearby illegal settlement. According to Palestinian witnesses, the settlers at first were hesitant to leave the military jeep that they arrived in, but the back-up of the Israeli military encouraged them. The settlers took photos of the new Bilal Al-Najjar cultural centre, still under construction, and the old original center.

Israeli occupation forces left the village at 11:30 p.m., after two hours in the village.

“We are leaving now but we will return very soon,” threatened the commander of the Israeli forces present in the village of Burin Monday night. Indeed, 5 military jeeps returned that very night at 1 a.m. to patrol the residential streets.

Thousands of olive trees in Burin have been burned during attacks by settlers from nearby illegal Israeli colonies

The residents of Burin suffer such raids on a weekly basis, and the presence of Israeli military jeeps in their village is constant. These occurances prevent many from a peaceful night of sleep, for fear of arbitrary arrest or injury during the invasions.
A youth from the Bilal Al-Najjar cultural center recalls a similar raid on Burin three months ago. Several youth were arrested and to this day remain in administrative detention (no charge, no trial) in Israeli prisons. Many fear the same fate.

Burin is a town which, apart from the regular nightly military incursions, also suffers repeated violent attacks by Israeli settlers from the two adjacent illegal settlements, Yitzhar and Bracha.

Alma Reventós is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Burin: arbitrary arrests continue

By Maria Erdely

22 May 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Castro Risaq was arrested on the night of the May 1 in Burin, a village just 7 kilometres south west of Nablus. The Israeli military arrived at 1 a.m. demanding Castro. Waking up the family, they barged through the front door. The 38 year old man was arrested and blindfolded without an opportunity to get dressed. His wife and 6 children were forced to watch as the head of the family was taken away without explanation. No charges have been pressed yet. The soldiers who arrested him stated only, “this is our job.”

Castro was told that he would have a hearing within 3 days. This date has since has been postponed to the end of the month.

Castro and Salam Risaq’s three sons

Castro holds both a Palestinian and British passport. He lived in the United Kingdom for a period of 7 months before he was called back to Palestine to stay with his ill mother. He intended to pass on his UK citizenship to his to eldest daughters, 15 and 18, but did not have the opportunity to do so before being arrested.

Upon Castro’s arrest, his wife, Salam Risaq, contacted the British Embassy. Their response was simply that they are unable to help.

The Risaq family has so far been denied visitation. They will only be allowed to see Castro in court during the promised hearing.

To support his family, Castro worked as a shepherd alongside his brother. Now that the family is left without a primary breadwinner, life is difficult. Castro’s 13 year old son wants to take over his father’s position. Salam only receives support from her brother-in-law and some Burin residents whose family members have also been taken by Israeli authorities.

Salam’s youngest son will soon need a second eye surgery in Jerusalem. His father’s arrest might make this impossible. Raising 6 children by herself for an unknown period of time has put a great deal of pressure on Salam.

Castro Risaq’s youngest son requires a costly eye surgery that may be impossible now due to his father’s imprisonment

Burin has been subject to many arrests on a daily basis for the past years. The village is surrounded from all directions by four illegal Israeli settlements. The Israeli military often patrols through the village at night, raids homes, and arbitrarily arrests members of Palestinian families. There has been a series of harassment and arrest of Burin’s youth, particularly those with a connection to the youth community centre in the village.

According to previous reports, between 200 and 300 Israeli soldiers have been known to raid Burin village. Arriving at night, the military will awaken entire families and destroy the inside belongings of the home. Parents complain that their children have not slept peacefully in years due to the constant threat of an army night raid.

On 21 April 2012, 10 youth were arrested in Burin. 5 of them were expected to take their final exams this year. It is unknown what their fate, or Castro’s, will be.

Maria Erdely is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Burin Youth Center targeted once again: 10 youth arrested in 200 soldier raid

by Lydia

21 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

In a quick and clean opperation, the Israeli Occupation Military managed to arrest 10 young men in two hours, forever altering  the next few months or even  the next years of their life in one swift swoop.

At 2 AM on 18 April, around 200 soldiers entered the village of Burin, south of Nablus and dispersed into teams of 20-30. Soldiers then proceeded to enter the homes of ten families and took away who they wanted. There were unusually no house raids, no extreme “video game styled” soldiers, just quick and to the point.

All but one of the youth arrested can be seen in this gallery:

The mother of Mohammad Sohier Najjar, who is 19 and part of the latest batch of arrests, described how her son was taken. “They [the soldiers] came at 2:30 AM. Mohammad was sleeping outside due to the weather. My husband was already awake and met them on the stairs to the house. They asked if Mohammad was the boy on the floor. He replied, yes. Mohammad was told to change his clothes and that was it. They took him from us.”

Mohammad is 19 and was due to start his exams the day he was arrested with the intention of applying to An Najjah university to study to be a physical education teacher.

Five of the ten arrested were due to start their exams that day, but instead, they will have to bare what is thrown at them by the Israeli military system. If lucky they will be able to re-take the last year of school again when they are released. Mohammad is now the third boy in the family to have been arrested.

Seven of the ten youth arrested were members of the Burin Community Center, named in honour of the martyr Bilal Najjar. Being members of this center comes with an awful chance of not only arrest by Israelis, but that at least a year of imprisonment is very possible. In 2010 25 members of the center were systematically arrested. Up to this month of April 2012 14 members of the Center have been arrested, and nine remain in Israeli jails until now.

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